A Destiny Changed Forever
by TimeLordPrime
Summary: This is an AU of Merlin starting with a new ending for 'The Poisoned Chalice' in Season One and continuing from there. What happens to the world of Merlin if his worst enemy Nimueh suddenly loses her memory and becomes his friend instead? How would the entire series be different because of that? I plan on making sweeping changes to Merlin including having Morgana never go bad.
1. A Second Chance

A DESTINY CHANGED FOREVER

I do not own Merlin or Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

CHAPTER 1

A SECOND CHANCE

**This is an alternate universe story that diverges off from the show in the middle of the episode 'The Poisoned Chalice' in Season One. It poses the following question. What would have happened if Nimueh had somehow been stopped from poisoning Merlin? How would things be different from that point on? It briefly features my version of Jenny the Doctor's Daughter from my Doctor Who War of the Guardians universe in the first chapter only. I don't plan on making her a recurring character though at least not at the moment. It takes place just after my story Time and Space for her. **

Nimueh watched King Uther Pendragon with disdain from the hallway just outside his main dining room where he waited to greet his incoming guests for the great banquet that was to come and could barely keep from smirking at him. She wanted to laugh in his face and loudly proclaim to him how she had come right into his very home without him noticing, but she knew that she didn't dare to. Even she as powerful as she was would have a hard time fighting all of Uther's knights at once.

Uther wasn't who she had come here to see anyway. It was her newest enemy Merlin who she had come here to kill today instead. She had snuck into Uther's castle in disguise as a handmaiden named Cara in order to poison Merlin with a poisoned chalice in revenge for his having stopped one of her plans against Uther.

All she had to do was to switch one of the chalices with hers and then tell Merlin that it was meant for Arthur. Merlin would then do the rest all by himself. She knew that he would gladly drink the poison in order to protect Arthur.

The plan was perfect. It couldn't fail. As she started to make her way into the dining room to switch the chalices, everything changed though. Forever.

A young blonde woman dressed in strange clothing appeared out of nowhere and bumped into Nimueh causing her to drop the chalice and spill its contents out onto the floor. She cursed at the woman and was immediately met with a punch to the face that knocked her out cold.

"Now, now! There's no need to use such language!" Jenny Tyler, the Doctor and Rose Tyler's daughter, said with a massive grin on her face.

Jenny picked up the chalice and disintegrated it as she used the power of the Bad Wolf for a moment. Then she gestured at the unconscious Nimueh as she lay on the floor and smiled as she was covered with a golden glow for a brief moment.

Merlin came up to her a few seconds later and said, "Jenny? I never thought that I'd see you again. You'd better get out of here before Arthur mistakes you for that Princess Vivian that he knows again though. I remember how annoyed that you got about that the last time."

"He is an annoying little prat, isn't he? Don't worry. I'm not staying around long, Merlin. I just came to repay you for helping me and my parents against Eris recently," Jenny said.

"Repay me? How? What are you going to do?" Merlin asked in confusion.

"I've already done it. I've just changed your life for the better. At least I hope so. Good bye, Merlin. Maybe I'll see you again sometime," Jenny said as she briefly hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.

Merlin's face flushed, and then he shook his head in disbelief as Jenny vanished right in front of him in a burst of golden energy. He certainly hoped that he did see Jenny again. She was certainly not like any other girl that he had ever met before.

He quickly looked around to see if anyone had seen what had just happened, but luckily no one had. That was when he noticed the unconscious young woman on the floor. She was just starting to wake up when he saw her. He immediately bent over to help her up as she blinked at him with a glassy eyed expression on her face. He realized that she had no idea where she was or what was going on.

"What happened to me? Why was I on the floor?" Nimueh asked with an upset look on her face.

"I'm afraid I don't know. I just now found you here lying on the floor unconscious. Are you okay?" Merlin asked her with concern.

"I think so. My jaw hurts pretty bad though. I wonder if I fell somehow?" Nimueh said in a dazed state.

"I don't see how. There's nothing in here that you could have fallen off of or run into," Merlin said as he quickly looked around him.

Then Merlin remembered that Jenny had just been here. Had Jenny knocked her out? That was the only answer that made any sense. Why would she have attacked this poor woman though? She looked perfectly harmless. No, it must have been something else that happened. Jenny would never attack an innocent woman.

"I don't remember who I am!" Nimueh said in a panicked state.

"You don't remember anything?" Merlin asked.

"No. All I remember is that my name is Cara. That's it. Do you know who I am?" the newly renamed Cara said.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm Prince Arthur's manservant, Merlin. I could take you to the king's physician, Gaius, if you want. Maybe he could help you regain your memory somehow," Merlin offered.

"I guess I should go and see him then if you're sure that will be okay," Cara said hesitantly.

"It'll be fine," Merlin said with a warm smile.

"Thank you, Merlin," Cara said as she smiled back at him.

Merlin was only just now beginning to notice how beautiful she was. He hoped that Gaius could help her. He also hoped that she lived in Camelot and wasn't visiting there from somewhere else.

That was just so that it might be easier to identify her of course. That's all.

As soon as the two of them arrived in the quarters that Merlin shared with Gaius, Gaius said without looking up, "Arthur's been looking for you, Merlin. He started shouting something about making you clean out the stables again if you didn't show up in the dining room soon."

"I had something more important to do than to mess with His Royal Pratness. Cara here has lost her memory. All she remembers is her name. Can you help her? Maybe give her a potion to bring it back or something?" Merlin asked.

"I'll do my best, Merlin. Just go on and attend to Arthur before he throws you in the stockade . . . again!" Gaius said with a grin with his eyes still on the new potion that he was making.

"Just stay here okay, Cara? Gaius will help you," Merlin reassured her before leaving.

"Alright. Thank you, Merlin," Cara said as she smiled at him again and made his face blush.

Gaius looked up in horror as he recognized Cara's voice as being Nimueh's. He stared at her in silence for a moment while neither of them spoke. Cara knew that something was wrong, but she couldn't imagine what it was.

"Did I do something wrong? Am I not supposed to be here? Merlin said that it was okay," Cara finally said.

"What are you up to, Nimueh? If you're here to hurt Merlin in some way, I'll stop you," Gaius said in anger.

Cara started to back away in fear as she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. She was so intent on getting out of the room, she almost ran right into Prince Arthur.

Arthur caught her and prevented her from colliding with him as he said, "Watch out there, miss. We almost had a little accident."

Cara's eyes widened as she realized who Arthur, and she began to apologize to him profusely as she said, "I'm so sorry, Your Highness. I think that I may have come here in error. Merlin said that it was okay for me to see the physician to treat my amnesia. If it's not though, I apologize. I'm also sorry for almost running into you. I was trying to leave, and I didn't see you there. I'm so sorry. My mind is all fuzzy, and I'm not thinking clearly."

"It's alright for Gaius to help you if you have a pressing need. At least Merlin was doing something useful for once this time instead of sleeping or standing around doing nothing as usual. Are you sure that you have amnesia? I thought that was when you didn't remember anything. You know who I am though. Are you sure that it's not some kind of head injury instead?" Arthur asked her in concern.

"I don't know, Your Highness. All I remember about myself is my name, Cara. Everything else is a blank. It's so strange. I can remember you and the basic details of life here in Camelot, but I don't remember anything about myself at all. It's extremely frustrating," Cara said in a voice that was half scared and half irritated.

"Sometimes a person can have amnesia that only affects their memories of themselves, but they remember everything else perfectly fine. I have heard of cases like this before," Gaius explained.

"Oh. I didn't know that. Do your best to help her then, Gaius. I'll be by to check up on her again later. Right now I have to make sure that Merlin actually went back to work after dropping Cara off here, or if he went straight to the tavern instead. I wouldn't put it past him. Although why he'd want to leave you, Cara, I have no idea. He never did have much sense though," Arthur said as he gave her a warm smile and left.

Cara was surprised at how nice the Prince was to her. She had heard that he didn't look down on his servants like other royalty did, but he had gone out of his way to be extra gracious to her. Of course, that might have just been because she had lost her memory.

She looked back at Gaius to see him looking at her in puzzlement instead of in anger now. She couldn't understand why he was acting so oddly around her. Why had he said those strange things to her before Arthur entered the room?

Maybe he had mistaken her for someone else. She started to calm down somewhat as she thought that must be it. He must have confused her with someone else for a moment.

"I'm not this person that you think I am. At least I don't think so. My name's Cara. I'm pretty sure that I would never hurt Merlin though. I only just met him, and he was nothing but kind to me," Cara said.

Gaius realized that she wasn't acting. Nimueh really had lost her memory and thought that she was someone else now. He had heard of things like this happening as well, but they were very rare occurrences. He also knew that sooner or later the victims of such maladies usually remembered who they were again. He had to get Nimueh out of Camelot before that happened.

"I'm afraid that I can't help you, Cara, but maybe if you go to the next village they can help you there. I know a man there named Humphries. He's an expert on this kind of thing where I only have a very limited knowledge of it. I could give you directions there if you'd like," Gaius said as he lied to her to get her to leave.

"I don't think that I could travel that far on foot before nightfall, and I don't want to be out alone after dark because of thieves. I don't even have a horse. I don't think. Maybe my memory will come back on its own if I just give it time. Thank you anyway," Cara said as she started to leave with a disappointed and worried look on her face.

That's what I'm afraid of. Gaius thought to himself.

"Where are you going to go to? You don't remember where you live?" Gaius pointed out.

"That's true. I forgot about that," Cara said.

Then she laughed at herself as she said, "I didn't mean to be funny."

Gaius couldn't help but feel sorry for Cara even though he knew just how evil she really was normally. He was actually starting to like the new her, and part of him wished that she could stay this way. Cara was much like Nimueh used to be back when they had been friends a long time ago. He had been very close to her back then, and it had left a lasting wound on his soul when she had turned to darkness.

He almost hoped that someway somehow she had come back to her original self. He would be so happy for his old friend if that were true.

"Cara, why don't you stay here for a while? At least until you get your memory back. I can arrange to give you Merlin's bed so that you can have some privacy. I wouldn't think on turning you out alone with nowhere to go," Gaius said.

"What about Merlin?" Cara asked.

"I'll find him a place to sleep somewhere. Don't worry about it. I'm sure he'll be happy to do it," Gaius said.

"Are you sure?" Cara asked.

"Yes, it's fine. It's just until you remember who you are again and can go home," Gaius said.

"Alright. Thank you, Gaius!" Cara said.

She then hugged him for a moment to show her gratitude. He hugged her back despite himself. It was almost as if he had gotten the old Nimueh back.

He hoped that she never regained her memory. He wanted this to be a second chance for her. He needed for that to happen. Part of him had to believe that could come true.

He would let her stay here and watch over her. If she started to remember, he would be in the perfect position to stop her before she became dangerous. If she didn't, then he would help her to start a new life for herself somewhere far away from here and hopefully keep Uther from seeing her in the meantime.

He just hoped that he wasn't making a mistake. He felt that he owed it to the woman that she used to be to try though.

**Next: Will Cara remember who she really is, or will she stay the kind hearted woman that she's become. Also what about her magic? Does she still possess that, and can she remember how to use it? Also just how loudly will Merlin grumble about being kicked out of his own bed, or will he not mind too much as long as Cara is around? Find out in the next chapter.**


	2. The Truth Is Revealed

CHAPTER 2

I do not own Merlin or Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE TRUTH IS REVEALED

When Merlin returned home from cleaning out the stables later that day, he came back grumbling about how much of a clotpole that Arthur was as usual. He was so wrapped up in fearing sorry for himself and not to mention feeling completely exhausted after a long hard day's work that he never even noticed that Cara was lying in his bed under the covers fast asleep.

Merlin laid down on the bed right next to her and quickly went to sleep himself fully dressed and on top of the covers still not having noticed her there. When Gaius passed by later on and noticed them lying there together, he smiled to himself. He immediately realized what must have happened and debated on whether to wake Merlin up or not.

He decided just to leave him there instead. He knew that Merlin would never try to take advantage of Nimueh/Cara and would immediately get off of the bed if he discovered her there so he wasn't worried about that.

Besides that, Merlin's reaction on finding her there would probably be highly amusing.

When Merlin woke up the next morning, he looked at Cara and smiled. She looked so beautiful lying there he thought to himself. Then he finally realized that Cara was in his bed, and his eyes went wide in surprise.

How did Cara get there? He couldn't remember her being there when he went to sleep. What happened?

Then his eyes went even wider as the thought of Gaius finding them there together entered his mind. What if Gaius jumped to the wrong conclusion and thought something was going on. He had to do something but what. He knew that he had to get Cara out of there quickly.

Then he looked at her lying there so peacefully and couldn't do it. He wouldn't disturb her for the world. He decided to go to Gaius and try to explain what happened instead. He just hoped that Gaius believed him.

It was then that Gaius walked into the bedroom and saw them there together. Merlin began to instantly panic as he said, "Nothing happened, Gaius! I swear nothing happened!"

"What?" Cara asked sleepily as his cry woke her up.

Then she noticed Merlin lying there and realized that he must have gone to sleep next to her without seeing her. Gaius had obviously never told him that this was her bed now.

Gaius laughed at him as he said, "I know nothing happened Merlin. Cara's going to be staying here for a while, and I gave her your bed. You came in so late last night that I didn't get the chance to tell you that. I was going to have you sleep on the floor. I didn't think that you'd mind."

As Merlin frowned at that idea, Cara said, "I'm glad he didn't sleep there. I don't feel right taking his bed."

"It's okay, Cara. I certainly wouldn't expect you to sleep on the floor," Merlin said.

"I'd rather neither of us slept on the floor. Isn't there somewhere else I could sleep, Gaius?" Cara asked.

"I'll try to have another bed brought in here sometime today, Cara," Gaius said.

"Thank you. Thank you again for your kindness, Gaius," Cara said with a warm smile.

Merlin then realized that he was still lying next to Cara, and his face turned red with embarrassment while he quickly got up. It was a lucky thing too because Arthur showed up the very next minute looking for Cara, and he was glad that he didn't have to explain to him why the two of them had been sharing a bed. Arthur would probably never believe that the whole thing was innocent.

"Gaius, I just wanted to see what happened to Cara. Did she ever recover her memory?" Arthur asked as he stood in the doorway.

"No, I'm afraid not, Sire. I told her that she could stay here while she tried to recover since she had nowhere else to go. At least not that we know of. I'm going to need a bed for her to sleep in as a matter of fact," Gaius said.

"I'll have one brought right away. That's very gracious of you to help her, Gaius. I'd like to thank you personally for doing that. Why don't you let her help you while she's here? Maybe getting a daily routine going would help her to recover. She could be your assistant. I'm sure she'll prove a much better help than Merlin. She'll actually do something all day besides sleep," Arthur suggested.

"That sounds like an excellent idea, Sire. I'm sure she'll prove invaluable to me," Gaius agreed with secret delight.

Now he had a perfectly good reason to keep Nimueh here in Camelot where he could watch her until he was sure that she wasn't going to regain her memory. Arthur himself had just handed it to him. Now the only thing that he had to worry about was Uther finding out who she was.

Cara quickly got dressed as she heard Arthur talking to Gaius and rushed out to greet them. She heard the last part of their conversation with surprise.

"You want me to work for you?" Cara asked.

"Yes, if that's what you want," Gaius said.

Cara smiled as she said, "I'd love to. I know a lot of things about herbs and potions. It's funny how I still remember all about that even though I remember nothing about myself. I have no idea why I know so much about such things. Maybe I was a physician's assistant before."

"Are you doing okay besides the loss of memory though, Cara?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, Sire. Thank you for asking," Cara said as she blushed.

Merlin entered then and glared at Arthur as he saw how Cara was reacting to him. He was instantly filled with jealousy and had yet another reason to grumble about him now.

"Oh, Merlin, there you are. I need my armor polished and my sword sharpened. Follow me. There's plenty of other work to be done as well. Do it fast enough, and maybe I'll have you shoe my horse as a reward. I'll see you later, Cara. I hope you get well soon," Arthur said smiling at Cara as he left with a scowling Merlin.

Cara stared after Arthur for a while after he left as if in a trance, and then she shook her head at herself and laughed. Silly girl! As if you could ever get a prince!

Gaius noticed this and smiled at her. She was acting exactly like his old friend now. He remembered when Nimueh would act just like this any time that she found a boy that she liked back when they were both young. He began to hope more than ever to himself that Cara was here to stay.

Suddenly his heart was gripped with fear as Uther walked into the room and looked right at Cara. Gaius became terrified for Nimueh now and had no idea how to save her.

To his complete shock, Uther smiled even as he looked straight at her. What was going on?

"You must be this Cara that Arthur has been telling me so much about. Arthur said that you had lost your memory and would be staying with Gaius until you recovered," Uther said.

"Yes, Sire. I'm going to be helping him as his assistant. I hope that I'll remember soon because I don't want to impose upon him for long," Cara said.

"Nonsense. It's no imposition at all, Cara," Gaius said honestly.

Cara smiled warmly at his comment as Uther said, "As you can see, Gaius is a good man. You'll learn much from him. Not just about medicine but also about life. I know I certainly have. I just wanted to see that you were doing well. I hope that you recover soon, Cara," Uther said.

"Thank you, Sire," Cara said and curtseyed to him.

Uther smiled at her show of respect and said, "Good bye, Cara. I hope to see you again sometime."

As Uther left, Gaius was left wondering just how he hadn't recognized Nimueh. Then he realized that she must have used a glamour spell on herself just before she had attended Uther's banquet yesterday. Obviously, it hadn't worn off yet. He hoped that it would be permanent.

He still couldn't understand why he could see the real Nimueh though unless she had only cast the spell to affect Uther. That was a possibility since as far as Nimueh knew Gaius would not be attending the banquet, and he was the only other one who would have recognized her.

However the spell worked, he was glad that it did. He really wanted this to work for Nimueh, and he didn't want Uther to ruin the whole thing for her.

The rest of the day passed quickly as Gaius began to tell Cara about what she would have to do in order to help him in his daily duties. She began to learn all about the many things that Gaius did every day as she accompanied him while he visited the sick or dying throughout Camelot, walked alongside him as he picked new roots and herbs, sat with him as he mixed potions and medicines, and quietly observed the respect that everyone in the kingdom seemed to share for him. She began to quickly respect and admire him herself as well and how he did so much for others while asking for nothing for himself. She was so glad that she had been lucky enough to come across such a good man in her time of need.

She quickly took to the many duties that he began to assign to her as if she had been doing them all of her life. She wondered if maybe she had. She had no way of knowing. Maybe someday though, she would remember everything. Someday.

By the end of the week, Gaius trusted her enough to leave her behind to make some new medicine for some of his patients while he went about his daily duties. She was all alone when Morgana came to call on Gaius.

"Hello, you must be this Cara that Arthur keeps talking about nonstop," Morgana said as she saw her sitting there.

"Yes, My Lady. It's such a pleasure to meet you," Cara said.

"It's very nice to meet you as well, Cara. Is Gaius around? I need some more of the potion that he gives me that allows me to sleep at night," Morgana said.

"He's not here. He probably won't be back until very late, My Lady," Cara said.

"You can call me Morgana, Cara. I'll just have to come back later then. I really need that potion," Morgana said worried.

"You have problems going to sleep?" Cara asked.

"I have . . . nightmares sometimes," Morgana said.

"I'm sorry. I have those too. I least I think I do. I seem to remember having some very bad ones in the past anyway," Cara said uncertainly.

Morgana smiled at her as she said, "I'm so sorry that you've lost your memory. I hope that you get it back quickly. Tell Gaius that I'll be back later tonight to get some more sleeping potion."

As Morgana turned to leave, Cara said, "Wait. Maybe I can help. I can make potions very well it turns out. Let me see what he's been giving you."

Morgana hesitated for a moment and then gave her the small jar that still contained a very small amount of the sleeping potion in it. There wasn't enough left to make a single dose, but it was enough to show Cara what it was.

"Oh, I know what this is. I can make that easily. Wait just a few minutes, My Lady," Cara said as she began to quickly set to work making some more of the potion.

She finished a whole bottle of it in a matter of minutes, and Morgana marveled at her speed. It was obvious that she had done this kind of thing before and was a master at it.

"How much does he usually give you?" Cara asked.

"A week's worth. I take a small dose of it every night before going to bed. I don't know the exact measurements though," Morgana said.

Cara knew how much of the potion she would give to someone that had problems sleeping and assumed that Gaius would think along similar lines so she carefully measured out a week's worth and poured it into Morgana's jar.

"How well does it work? Does it always keep you from having nightmares?" Cara asked.

"Most of the time. Sometimes I still have them despite it though. They seem to be getting stronger lately," Morgana admitted.

"I'll increase the dosage slightly from what I would normally give someone. Let me know if it works," Cara said with a warm smile as she added a little bit more to the jar and told Morgana how much more to take every day.

"Are you sure I should be taking so much?" Morgana asked as she looked at the jar warily.

"Yes, it should be perfectly fine. It's well within safe levels for a woman your age, My Lady. Not that I presume to know your age. I'm just estimating. If it makes you feel better, you can wait until Gaius returns to ask him about it," Cara said nervously.

Morgana smiled at her as she began to see why Arthur and Uther liked her so much. She quickly took the jar from the table without any further hesitation.

"I trust you, Cara. You seem to know exactly what you're doing. Oh, and I said to call me Morgana. All of my friends do, and I'd like to include you in that number," Morgana said as she turned to leave.

"Thank you, Morgana. I'd love to be your friend. Maybe I'll see you again," Cara said.

"Definitely, Cara. I come in here at least once a week after all. He likes you. Did you know that?" Morgana asked.

"Who does? Arthur?" Cara asked in disbelief.

"Yes. I think he likes you, Cara. All he does is talk about you lately. It's Cara this and Cara that. He's been driving me up the wall. I can finally see what he sees in you though. You're beautiful, intelligent, and very sweet. No wonder you've stolen his heart," Morgana said.

"Thank you. I'm sure that he's not really in love with someone like me though. He probably just thinks of me as a friend," Cara said.

"I'll add too humble to that list of descriptions about you, Cara. Of course he loves you. I've never seen Arthur this head over heels about anyone before. He likes you a lot, Cara. Why don't you ask him out? If I know Arthur, it'll probably take him forever to ask you out. He has no problem with other women, but someone he really likes he'll get all tongue tied around them. I've seen it happen before," Morgana said.

"I don't know. I'll – I'll have to think about it," Cara said uncertainly.

"You do that. I'll see you around. I'm glad to have met you, Cara. I think that you and I are going to become the best of friends," Morgana said.

As it happened, they did become very good friends because the extra dosage that Cara gave Morgana helped her immensely. She no longer had nightmares after taking the new dosage that Cara had given her, and this made her greatly value Cara's friendship and advice. The two of them became very close over the next couple of weeks.

In fact, Cara became closer to Merlin, Arthur, and Gaius as well. She became a regular part of Merlin's social circle, and no one thought twice about seeing her with him everywhere that he went. It was soon understood by everyone that the two of them were close friends although Merlin wanted her to be something more. Cara meanwhile just kept thinking about Arthur but couldn't gather the courage to make the first move herself.

Gaius eventually stopped thinking of Cara as Nimueh even in his own thoughts and never even realized it. He only thought of her as Cara now and had come to trust her completely and without reservations. He had already made up his mind that she would stay with him and Merlin as long as she wanted, and she seemed to be quite happy with that arrangement. He was just happy to have gotten his friend back even if she didn't know that she was his friend.

A month later, Merlin and Cara were picking mushrooms together in the forest with no idea of what lay ahead of them. Something was about to happen that would change both of their lives.

"What's with the smile, Merlin? Don't tell me that you actually like picking mushrooms," Cara said with a giggle.

"It beats all of the humiliating back breaking chores that Arthur makes me do, Cara. I'd gladly do this over that any day. Besides, your company is infinitely preferable to Arthur's," Merlin said.

Cara gave him a warm smile as she said, "You're quite the charmer, aren't you? Do you say those lines to Gwen too?"

"What?" Merlin asked in surprise.

"Oh, come on, Merlin. Don't act all shocked. I know that you and Gwen have some kind of relationship. Morgana told me about it. I like Gwen. She's very lucky to have you," Cara said.

Merlin was crestfallen. She still had no idea how he felt about her. She actually thought that he loved Gwen. Would she ever see the truth?

He was immediately snapped out of these thoughts by the arrival of a giant winged creature with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion. It immediately flew towards Merlin as it prepared to attack him.

Then to Merlin's horror, Cara suddenly put herself in-between him and the creature. She stood there tall and strong with an outstretched hand as she shouted, "Leave him alone!"

The Griffin suddenly stopped in mid-flight and hovered in the air before her. It could sense her great power, and it was suddenly filled with fear. It began to slowly back away from her as it instinctively knew that to stay around her for too long would quickly lead to its own death.

Merlin looked at the Griffin's reaction to Cara with complete surprise. He had no idea what was going on until he saw Cara's eyes begin to glow. It was then that Merlin realized that Cara had magic.

It was at that crucial moment that a young man who Merlin had never seen before suddenly appeared with a sword in his hand. He began to do battle with the creature, and the two of them fought for several minutes together until the man finally drove the Griffin away.

"Thank you. You saved both of our lives," Merlin said gratefully even as he hoped that the man had not seen Cara's eyes glowing.

"It seemed as if your girlfriend already had things under control, but I wanted to make sure. I could never turn my back on someone in trouble. My name's Lancelot by the way," Lancelot said.

"I'm Cara and this is Merlin, but I'm not his girlfriend. We're just friends. What do you mean that I had things under control?" Cara asked in puzzlement.

Merlin's heart was wounded by Cara's words even as he realized that she had no idea that she had magic. Obviously that was another thing that she had forgotten about.

"I mean that you were keeping the creature under control somehow, and your eyes were glowing with magic. You didn't realize this?" Lancelot asked in surprise.

"No, I didn't. I have magic," Cara said in a shocked voice.

"Cara would never hurt anyone. She's the sweetest, kindest person that you'll ever meet. Please don't tell anyone," Merlin said quickly.

Lancelot smiled as he realized that despite Cara's words that Merlin was madly in love with her. He reassured Merlin as he said, "I promise I'll keep her secret. No one will hear about it from me."

"Thank you, Lancelot. I appreciate that. Maybe that's why I lost my memory. Maybe I'm a sorcerer, and I cast a spell that backfired," Cara said thoughtfully.

Then both Merlin and Cara realized at once that Lancelot was bleeding. The creature had wounded him.

Even as they took him to Gaius to be looked at for his wounds, Merlin began to wonder about who Cara really was. If she had magic, did that make her dangerous? Was it possible that she was linked with Nimueh in some way?

He also wondered briefly if he could confide his own secret to her now. He had been dying to tell her all of this time, but he wasn't sure if he should or not. It all depended on who she really was.

He couldn't believe for a moment that Cara was evil, but he had to at least consider the possibility no matter how much he didn't want to. He had to make sure that Cara wasn't a danger to him or Arthur.

He had to talk to the Great Dragon.

Later that day, Merlin went to see Kilgarrah underneath the castle in secret. He approached the dragon hesitantly as it waited for him to speak.

"I expected you to come sooner, young warlock. So she finally showed you her power at last, did she?" Kilgarrah asked.

"You know who she really is, don't you?" Merlin asked.

"Of course. You would too if you weren't so blinded with love for her," Kilgarrah said.

"I'm not in love with her," Merlin lied.

"You're a terrible liar, Merlin. That's a good thing though. It's good that you've finally come. Your destiny is already being rewritten even as we speak. Your life could completely change now all thanks to a single event being rewritten by your Time Lady friend's interference," Kilgarrah said.

"Jenny! She's the one who made Cara lose her memory, didn't she?" Merlin said.

"Yes, she did. She prevented her from attempting to kill you, and then she gave her a second chance at life as she blocked her memories of her true identity even as she regressed her personality back to what it was before she allowed herself to be consumed by darkness. She is much like her parents in her belief in mercy," Kilgarrah explained.

"Why would Cara want to kill me?" Merlin asked.

"You're still too blinded to see, aren't you? Cara is Nimueh," Kilgarrah said.

Merlin could feel his heart breaking even as he said, "Cara is Nimueh? No, that can't be true! She's too gentle and kind. She could never be Nimueh!"

"She is who Nimueh used to be and now is once again, young warlock," Kilgarrah said.

"Will she remember? If she does, will she become evil again?" Merlin asked.

"That's difficult to say. That all depends on her now. Nimueh has your destiny in her hands now, Merlin. It could go either one of two ways now depending on her actions. In one version of events, the two of you will become partners together as you both act to protect Arthur and make him into a great king," Kilgarrah said.

"And in the other version?" Merlin asked hesitantly.

"In the other version, Cara becomes Nimueh once more and tries to kill you, Merlin. Then you will have to kill her in order to save yourself and Arthur," Kilgarrah said sadly.

"I can't. I could never hurt her," Merlin said.

"If you don't, then she will certainly kill you; and then Arthur and Camelot will fall to her shortly thereafter," Kilgarrah warned.

"I can't do it! I won't! I have to hope that never happens and that she'll stay Cara forever. Maybe she'll never remember again," Merlin said.

"That may be but you still have to prepare for the other possibility. You cannot leave it to chance," Kilgarrah said.

"I can't do it. I can't kill the woman that I love," Merlin said as he finally admitted the truth to him.

"Then you had better hope that she loves you as well, or you are doomed," Kilgarrah warned him.

Merlin shuddered at the thought of the horrible choice that might lie ahead of him one day. It was one that he desperately hoped never to have to make. He knew that something inside of him would die if he ever had to do anything to hurt Cara. He wasn't even sure that he could.

**Next: Merlin confronts Gaius about his knowledge of Cara's true identity. Plus Merlin decides to help Lancelot become a knight. Will he succeed this time? Also the final showdown with the Griffin occurs. How will things be different with Cara being involved this time?**


	3. The Griffin Returns

CHAPTER 3

I do not own Merlin and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE GRIFFIN RETURNS

The next day Merlin waited until Cara was gone to deliver some medicine, and then he confronted Gaius about her true identity. He had to get this out in the open once and for all.

As Gaius prepared something to give to Lancelot that he hoped would help him heal quicker, Merlin finally said, "I know who Cara is, Gaius. What I'd like to know is why you didn't tell me about her."

"I wondered when you would find out. I was hoping that your love for her would continue to blind you to the truth," Gaius said.

"Does everyone know how I feel about her?" Merlin asked in agitation.

"Everyone but Cara it seems. It's just so obvious to the rest of us. Cara is too interested in Arthur to notice it for herself it seems. Since you know who she is though I'm surprised that you're still interested," Gaius said.

"I don't care who she used to be. I care about who she is now. You still didn't answer my question," Merlin said.

"I didn't want anyone to know, Merlin. The less people know the truth about her, the less the likelihood is that she'll ever find out herself. I don't want her to remember again, Merlin. I want her to stay just as happy as she is now. I want her to stay the good, gentle woman that I remember growing up. I want her to have another chance," Gaius said in an emotional voice.

Merlin's anger at not being told disappeared now as he realized that Gaius was just trying to protect Nimueh. He couldn't stay angry at him for that. He would probably do the same thing if he were in his shoes he realized.

"I would never tell her. I want her to stay Cara too. I just wanted to know what your reasons were and now I do. Should I tell her that I have magic too? I've been wondering if maybe I should now since she knows that she has it," Merlin asked.

"You can if you want to. The old Nimueh could be completely trusted to keep a secret especially that of a friend. Besides she already knew who you were before anyway so it doesn't really matter if you tell her again. Even if she did regain her memories and old personality again, it wouldn't make any difference," Gaius said.

"I don't even want to think about that happening, Gaius," Merlin said somberly.

"Neither do I," Gaius said.

When Cara returned, she found them both in a depressed state. She looked at them both in puzzlement as she said, "What's with you two? Did something bad happen?"

"No. Everything's fine, Cara," Merlin said as he tried to appear happy for her benefit.

"We were just a little worried about the reports of the creature that attacked you and Merlin. It's been sighted attacking people once more. It's too bad that we can't come up with a way to kill it. It seems that none of our weapons can harm it so far. Our best knights have tried killing it with no results," Gaius said.

"I bet Lancelot would be able to kill it. He saved our lives from it. If anyone deserves to be a knight, he does," Merlin said.

"We've already gone over this, Merlin. He can't become a knight because he is not of noble blood," Gaius said.

Merlin began to get a devious look on his face, and Cara instantly knew that he was up to something. She had been around him long enough now to know what all of his looks meant. She always knew that particular look meant trouble. She knew that even now Merlin was hatching up a plan to somehow make sure that Lancelot became a knight.

She was right.

As Merlin headed to the court library to carry out his plan, Cara silently followed behind him. She made Merlin almost jump out of his shoes as she suddenly said to him right before he was to enter the library, "What are you up to?"

"Nothing, Cara. I'm just going to do some research on the creature for Gaius. That's all," Merlin said.

"I know when you're lying, Merlin. You've got some kind of devious plan to make Lancelot into a knight running through your brain, don't you?" Cara said.

"I just want to help him achieve his dream. It's not right that he can't just because of who he was born to," Merlin protested.

"This may shock you, Merlin, but I agree completely. I want in. So what's your plan?" Cara asked with a wicked grin.

"I love you!" Merlin said without thinking, and then he froze in fear.

"I love you too, Merlin. You're my best friend," Cara said in a voice filled with warmth.

Merlin immediately realized that she had misinterpreted his words as ones of friendship instead of love. He briefly considered clarifying them but decided not to. Not yet anyway.

"I'm going to the library to research noble genealogy. I'm going to create a fake noble seal for Lancelot to use to pose as a noble," Merlin confided in her.

"How do you plan on doing that? You'll never be able to reproduce one of those where it would fool someone," Cara said skeptically.

He lowered his voice to a whisper as he said, "Cara, I have magic too."

Her face became one huge grin as she kissed him on the cheek and hugged him so tightly that he couldn't breathe for a moment. She was so happy that she couldn't describe it.

Finally she whispered back to him, "Thank you! Thank you for sharing that with me. I won't tell, Merlin. You haven't told my secret, and I would never betray yours either. I'm so glad that you have magic too. That means that I have a new partner in crime. It's us against the world now!"

"What do you mean by that?" Merlin asked as he looked at her warily. Were her memories returning?

"It was just a figure of speech! What did you think I meant, silly?" Cara said with a chuckle.

"Nothing. I was just taken by surprise. That's all," Merlin said as he began to relax again.

"Stop being so serious all of the time. You need to loosen up more. You'd think that I was going to pounce on you at any minute the way you're all tensed up all of a sudden. I promise I won't beat you up, Merlin," Cara said as she laughed at him and gave him a one-armed hug.

Merlin smiled at her as he said, "No wonder I'm tense. You'd be tense too if you always had Arthur shouting at you and working you to death from dawn till dusk."

"You protest too much, Merlin. You like him and you know it. He's your friend," Cara said with a perceptive eye.

"He can be alright sometimes when he's not busy being a clotpole," Merlin admitted.

"See? I knew that's the way you felt about him," Cara said as she played with his hair affectionately.

She seemed to realize what she was doing and stopped with an embarrassed look on her face as she said, "So you were going to use magic to create a fake seal?"

"Yes," Merlin said as he tried not to smile at her previous action.

"There's still one flaw in that plan. Geoffrey of Monmouth. He could still do some research and discover it's a fake no matter how realistic the seal looks. I think that I have a way around that though," Cara said.

"What's that?" Merlin asked.

"You'll see," Cara said enigmatically.

After Merlin did a little research, he finally found a family that he thought he could fit Lancelot into with no problems, and then he used magic to reproduce their noble seal. He had no idea what Cara had been up to this whole time until he saw her talking with Geoffrey. What was she up to now?

"Merlin, there you are. I was just telling Geoffrey that we were here to research Lancelot's past. We just wanted to make sure that he was who he said he was. Lancelot gave us his noble seal to use to look him up by. You just proved that he was absolutely telling us the truth, didn't you?" Cara said.

"Yes, uh, yes I did. He's really of noble blood alright," Merlin said nervously.

"Let me see that," Geoffrey said.

Merlin handed him the seal, and he began to study it as Cara's eyes flashed with magic for a moment while she mouthed a brief incantation. Merlin was shocked at how fast she was remembering things. Now she was even remembering spells!

He began to fear that the dragon was right after all.

"This is real alright. Lancelot is of a noble family. I'll vouch for him myself," Geoffrey said.

"Thank you, Geoffrey. I knew we could count on you," Cara said happily.

As the two of them left the library though, Cara's smile turned into a deep frown. Merlin realized that she felt bad about what she had done. That was a good sign, wasn't it?

"Are you alright?" Merlin asked.

"No. I didn't like doing that. I know it was to help Lancelot, but I don't like tampering with someone's mind. It just doesn't feel right. I'm never doing that again," Cara said as she looked sick.

"How did you even know how to do that?" Merlin asked.

"I don't know. I think I must have known it in the past. Maybe I really was a sorceress," Cara said.

She began to look very upset, and Merlin said to her in a soft voice, "What is it, Cara?"

"Do you think I was evil?" Cara asked as she looked at Merlin through tear-filled eyes.

"What makes you say that?" Merlin asked with trepidation.

"Uther seems to think that everyone with magic is evil. Maybe I am too. I wouldn't even know it if I was because I lost my memory," Cara said.

"Uther's wrong. Am I evil? Is Gaius evil?" Merlin asked.

"No, of course not. I could never believe that of either of you," Cara said.

"You're not evil either, Cara. I already know who you really are as a person even if you don't. I know that deep down in your heart of hearts you're a sweet, kind, and loving girl," Merlin said as he drew closer to her.

"Merlin, I . . . ," Cara said as the two of them started to feel an immense attraction to each other, and their faces drew closer and closer together.

They were just about to kiss at any moment when a knight on horseback went riding past them at full speed. They immediately broke apart as they followed him. They knew that it must be something to do with the creature.

They soon learned that it was. Apparently, it was coming closer and closer to Camelot. Uther started to mobilize the knights as he prepared to fight it. Merlin knew that this was as good a time as any to convince Lancelot to join them.

After much cajoling, he finally convinced a reluctant Lancelot to attempt to become a knight. Lancelot didn't want to lie, and Gaius thought it was a terrible idea. Merlin knew that it would work though.

Lancelot's test of knighthood was moved forward due to the immediate need for knights just as Merlin hoped that it would. Lancelot passed with flying colors as he defeated Arthur in a duel. Uther was suspicious of the seal at first and gave it to Geoffrey to look at, but Geoffrey, still under Cara's spell, only confirmed to him that it was real. Only then did Uther fully accept Lancelot as a knight.

Merlin's plan had worked! Thanks to Cara of course. He couldn't believe it himself. The two of them made a really good team it turned out.

Now if only he could convince her that they could be something even more than just friends. He had been close to doing that before when that stupid knight had to go riding by!

Merlin had to admit to himself that he had an ulterior motive for wanting Lancelot to stick around. He saw the way that he and Gwen were looking at each other when they first met and wanted to give that a chance to grow. Maybe if Gwen were taken out of the picture by Lancelot, Cara would realize that she and Merlin were not and never had been a couple at last.

Besides that, he thought that they were made for each other.

Merlin and Cara were soon back at home with Gaius after the big celebration for Lancelot's new knighthood was over with. They still hadn't discussed what had almost happened between them earlier. Merlin realized that Cara was trying to avoid it for some reason.

"I need to find out what the creature is and how to kill it now before it arrives in Camelot. I have to go to the library," Gaius said as soon as they arrived.

"It's a Griffin. It was created by magic so it can only be killed by magic. Nothing else will even touch it," Cara said.

Gaius and Merlin both looked at her at once with surprise and worry on their faces. She felt worried herself as she didn't know where that knowledge had come from.

"Are you sure? I always thought Griffins were mythical," Gaius finally said.

"Yes. I seem to remember coming across one before. I think I even remember how to kill it," Cara said.

She then recited the words to a spell, and Gaius instantly knew that it would work. He was sure that it would kill the Griffin if it were used to enchant a weapon that was used against it. This new development both excited him and filled him with dread.

Cara was remembering more and more things from her past life. He knew that it was only a matter of time now before she remembered it all. He just hoped that when that day came that her life as Cara would still mean something to her.

"Gaius, are you alright?" Cara asked as she saw him filled with worry about her.

"Yes, I'm fine," Gaius lied.

"I promise that whoever I turn out to be that I'll always be a friend to both of you. Nothing will ever change that," Cara said as she realized at least part of what he was thinking.

She gave Gaius a hug and a chaste kiss to the cheek then. Gaius realized that she really had redeveloped a deep connection to him just like the one that they had before when they were young. She was his friend once again, and he didn't want to lose her. Not this time.

It would break his heart if that were to happen again.

Gaius immediately went to Uther and told him that he had to use magic to defeat the Griffin, but the king refused to do so. His plan was to lure the Griffin into a trap and use Arthur and the knights to kill it with ordinary weapons. Gaius knew that this would just wind up getting them all killed instead. He realized that he had to get Merlin to help them with magic in secret whether the king wanted them to or not.

As Gaius told Merlin about this, Cara was onboard with this plan all of the way. With one condition of course.

"I'm going with you Merlin. You need someone to keep you out of trouble," Cara said.

"I can take care of myself now that I know the spell to use to kill it," Merlin insisted.

"Please! The Griffin would have killed you if Lancelot and I hadn't been there. Besides, can you even pronounce the spell properly? You haven't been able to so far," Cara pointed out.

"I can pronounce it. Don't worry about that. I don't need any help. Besides, can you even remember what you did to make the Griffin stop?" Merlin asked.

"No. I can't. That just seemed to come out of nowhere. I don't remember how I did it. I'm not sure if I could do it again or not," Cara admitted.

"See? I'll go by myself. I can handle this, Cara. I've done it before," Merlin insisted.

"Don't be so full of pride. I'm going. You might need me," Cara insisted stubbornly.

Merlin said nothing more because he knew that he had lost. It wasn't his pride that was making him object to her coming. It was fear. He didn't want her to remember any more than she already had. He was afraid if she was around magic too much that she might remember everything.

Merlin and Cara ran to the scene of the battle with the Griffin to find that it had already killed all of the knights except for Arthur and Lancelot. Arthur was badly wounded and lay on the ground unconscious as Lancelot desperately fought against the creature all by himself.

Merlin knew that he had to act quickly, or Lancelot and Arthur were both dead. He quickly said the spell and pronounced it correctly this time. Cara smiled at him as he got it right. She knew he could do it. She just wanted to be sure. She would never forgive herself if something happened to him when she could have been there to prevent it.

As soon as the spell was cast, Lancelot's spear became charged with its effects; and he instantly killed the Griffin with it. Lancelot looked at Merlin with a huge smile afterward as he said, "So you have magic as well. Thank you, my friend. You can rest assured that I'll keep your secret also. I'll always be in your debt. Both for this and for your help in making my dream come true. I'd like to thank both of you."

"You can best thank me by asking Gwen out," Merlin said as Cara looked at him in shock.

"Really? Do you really think that she would be interested?" Lancelot asked intrigued.

"Oh, yeah. I think that she likes you. Why don't you at least try?" Merlin encouraged him.

"Alright, I will. Thank you again, my friend," Lancelot said.

"Cara and I need to go now. Arthur has to think that you did this all by yourself without any magic," Merlin said.

Lancelot nodded in understanding, and Merlin and Cara quickly left him standing there all alone. Arthur woke up soon afterwards to find Lancelot standing in triumph over the dead creature. He automatically assumed that Lancelot had killed it all by himself, and the brave knight said nothing to contradict him even though he really wanted to let Arthur know the truth. That was what Merlin had wanted after all, and he had to respect his wishes.

He was absolutely sure that Arthur would never have had Merlin killed if he had known the truth about him though. Even he could tell that Arthur loved Merlin like a brother.

Arthur and Lancelot returned to Camelot to get a heroes' welcome. Uther was extremely grateful to Lancelot for saving his son and protecting his kingdom. Lancelot had now become one of Uther's favorites, and he and Arthur were set firmly on the path to becoming good friends. Lancelot would soon prove to everyone that he was the greatest of Camelot's knights.

He even took Merlin's advice. He asked Gwen out on a date, and she eagerly accepted. She had grown tired of waiting for Merlin to make a move. Besides, she had realized that any chance she had with him was gone the moment that Cara showed up.

Merlin watched the two of them becoming close with glee. Now Cara had to know that he was only interested in her and her alone.

Cara did realize this now of course. She had realized it that moment outside the library. Then it was made crystal clear to her when Merlin practically threw Gwen at Lancelot.

The problem was that she wasn't sure how she felt about Merlin. She did care a great deal about him, but was she really in love with him? She just wasn't sure.

She decided that she needed to ask someone for some advice. There was only one person who she felt that she could ask about a sensitive subject like this.

Cara went to Morgana's room and knocked on the door. As soon as Morgana answered, she realized that something was bothering her friend.

"Morgana, I need some advice. I don't know what to do," Cara said in an upset voice.

"I'll do my best to help, of course. What's bothering you, Cara?" Morgana asked in concern.

"What would you do if you loved one man that you could never have, and then you find out that another man who you can have loves you except that you're not sure that you feel the same way about him since you still love the other man?" Cara asked.

"Arthur and Merlin you mean?" Morgana said with a knowing smile.

"How?" Cara asked in surprise.

"It's pretty obvious if you know how to look for it. So you love Arthur? " Morgana asked in what she hoped was not a jealous tone.

"Yes. I do. I have since I met him. I also care a lot about Merlin though. He's my best friend, and I do have strong feelings for him. I just don't know if what I feel is love or not. I know for sure now that Merlin is in love with me though, and I don't know what to do about it. I don't want to hurt him," Cara said in despair.

"I was so sure that he had feelings for Gwen. Apparently, I was wrong. Or maybe he did until he met you," Morgana said with a smile.

"I truly had no idea until he almost kissed me today," Cara admitted.

"Really? What happened? Tell me more!" Morgana said excited.

Cara hesitated as she was unsure how to tell her about it without revealing what she and Merlin did to help Lancelot. She wanted to trust Morgana, but she wasn't sure how she would feel about her if she were to reveal that she had magic.

"What is it?" Morgana asked as she saw Cara hesitating.

Cara decided to follow her instincts as she said hesitantly," Morgana, in order to tell you that story, I'll have to trust you with several secrets. Any one of those secrets could cause Uther to kill me if he found out. You might feel differently about me yourself if you knew."

"I would never do that to you. You're one of the few people that I can really trust. I don't have many real friends. Not like you. I have a secret too, Cara. It's also one that if Uther found out that he might have me killed as well. I'll tell you my secret if you tell me yours," Morgana offered.

"Done," Cara said.

Then she told Morgana the whole story including the fact that both she and Merlin had magic. She could only hope that she wasn't making a huge mistake. She saw a shocked look on Morgana's face at first which quickly changed to an elated smile.

"I think that I have magic too," Morgana finally said.

"What?" Cara asked.

Out of all of the responses that she had anticipated receiving to her admission that one wasn't even on the list. She began to wonder if it was really true.

"Those nightmares that I was having before I met you weren't just ordinary dreams, Cara. They were dreams of the future. They almost always came true," Morgana admitted.

"I can't believe it. You're a Seer!" Cara said in excitement.

"A what?" Morgana asked.

"It just means that you can see the future in your dreams. It also means that you may have magic as well. You could be a sorceress like me. This is wonderful. I finally have someone besides Merlin and Gaius to talk to about this," Cara said as she hugged Morgana with joy.

"At least you had them. I didn't have anyone. I didn't know who to trust. I was afraid to tell anyone because they would think I was mad or that I was a witch. Maybe I am a witch for all I know," Morgana said.

"If you are, you're a good one. Do you want me to tell Merlin and Gaius or just to keep it to myself?" Cara asked.

"You can tell them if you want. It would be nice to have a few people who I can confide in. I know that if they've kept your secret that they'll keep mine," Morgana said.

Cara was extremely happy for a moment, and then her mind came back to her original problem yet again. She still had no answer to it.

"You still don't know what to do about Merlin, do you?" Morgana asked.

"No. What should I do?" Cara asked.

Morgana hoped that it wasn't her feelings for Arthur that were making her say this as she advised, "You need to find out how you feel about him, Cara. Go out on a date with him and see how you feel then. Tell him the truth about how things stand between the two of you and let the date decide things. Then if you don't feel the same way as he does after that, let him down as gently as possible."

"Thanks, Morgana. I think I knew all along that was what I should do, but I really needed to hear it from an impartial observer to be sure about it. Thank you. I really value your friendship," Cara said.

"I'm always glad to help," Morgana said even as she secretly hoped that Merlin succeeded in taking Cara's mind off of Arthur.

"Have you had any more of these dreams of the future by the way?" Cara asked.

"Your potion seemed to work wonders. Since I started taking it, I haven't been having any at all. At least, I didn't until just recently. Last night though I started to have a very powerful dream about this woman who I've never seen before. She was drowning Arthur. I'm not sure if it's just a regular nightmare or one of my special ones. Sometimes it's hard to tell," Morgana said.

"Tell me more about it," Cara said intrigued.

**Next: Cara and Morgana must work together to try to stop a beautiful Sidhe girl from killing Arthur. With a little help from Merlin of course. Also Merlin and Cara have their first date. What will happen?**

**If you're wondering if I'm going to keep remaking old episodes for the rest of this story, the answer is no. I'm going to go through a few key ones in the first season that will be important to my overall story, and then after that there will be a turning point. It will be one that will change the lives of all of the characters forever. Once that occurs, the storyline will be entirely new and original. **


	4. A New Ally

CHAPTER 4

I do not own Merlin and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

A NEW ALLY

Ever since Morgana had told Cara about her nightmare, Cara had been on the lookout for the mysterious girl that she had seen in the dream drowning Arthur to appear soon. After several days passed with no such girl appearing however, she began to wonder if maybe Morgana's nightmare had just been a dream after all.

She had begun to worry more about that date with Merlin instead that Morgana had advised her to make. She had suggested it to Merlin soon after talking to Morgana, and he had set it for a week later. Now it was almost time for it, and she was getting more and more anxious as each day passed.

By the time Morgana's mysterious girl actually did appear, Cara was too worried about her upcoming date to realize that it was her. At least she was at first anyway.

She was walking with Morgana in the hallways of Camelot when they passed a woman that she had never seen before. She passed her on by without even thinking about it but Morgana didn't. She looked at her in terror. She instantly recognized her as the girl from her nightmare.

Cara didn't even register any of this at first until Morgana said, "That's her. She's the one who's going to drown Arthur!"

"You're sure?" Cara asked in sudden alarm.

"Yes, that's her. I have her face burned into my mind, Cara. I know it's her. We have to find out where she's staying and stop her before it's too late," Morgana said.

"We will. I promise," Cara said.

"What are you two talking about?" Merlin asked.

"That girl. Who was she?" Morgana demanded.

"Her name is Sophia Tir-Mor. Arthur rescued her from bandits, and the king said that she and her father could stay in Camelot. What about her?" Merlin asked.

"She's the one in my dreams, Merlin. It's her," Morgana said.

It was still strange to Merlin that he could talk so openly to Morgana about magic now. It was also a welcome relief though. He liked having someone else to talk to about what he could do. It was also good for Morgana he noticed. She no longer had to feel alone. He was so glad that Cara had told her.

When he had told the dragon about this though, he hit the roof for some reason. He wouldn't tell him why. He just kept calling Morgana a witch and telling him not to trust her. He didn't see what harm it would cause for Morgana to know. Morgana was his friend. He trusted her completely.

"Are you sure?" Merlin asked her.

"Of course I'm sure. Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Morgana asked as she began to become upset.

"I believe you. Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on her from now on. It shouldn't be too hard. She's moved into the room right next to Arthur's," Merlin informed them.

"What? What idiot came up with that idea?" Morgana asked in anger.

"Arthur," Merlin said with a grin.

"Why am I not surprised? He's head over heels for her already, isn't he? It happens every time that he sees a pretty face," Morgana said.

"She is very beautiful," Merlin admitted.

"Oh, is she? Why don't you ask her out on a date then?" Cara asked in an extremely jealous tone of voice.

Her eyes widened in shock at what she had just said as she saw both of her friends staring at her now. Merlin was looking at her in a combination of surprise and hope while Morgana had a large smile on her face.

"I don't know why I said that. I'm sorry, Merlin," Cara apologized as she looked away from him in embarrassment.

"She likes you," Morgana whispered to Merlin.

Hearing that only made Cara's face get even redder. Thanks a lot, Morgana! She thought to herself.

"We should tell Gaius about Sophia as well. All of us need to be on the lookout and watch her closely," Cara said as she tried to change the subject.

"I guess we should. Come on, Cara, before you embarrass yourself anymore," Morgana said with a chuckle.

Merlin smiled as he watched them leave. Could it be? Was Cara falling for him too? He certainly hoped so. He loved her so much now that he couldn't imagine his life without her. If she ever did become Nimueh again, he would rather that she killed him then to live for one moment knowing that he would never see Cara again. He didn't think that he could take it.

"I honestly don't know why I said that," Cara said as she and Morgana headed off to see Gaius.

"Yes, you do. You love him. You just don't want to admit it to yourself," Morgana said.

Cara said nothing as she wondered if it was true or not. She still wasn't sure how she felt or where that sudden intense jealousy had come from.

They came upon Gaius just as he was performed some experiment or another, and he smiled it both of them. He was a little hesitant at first when Cara told him that Morgana knew about Merlin, but he had come to think that it had been a very good thing that she did once he truly realized just how upset Morgana had been all of this time with no one to talk to about her dreams. He hadn't wanted Morgana to feel alone or to be terrified of having her dreams found out by Uther. He had thought that he was protecting her from Uther by ignoring her dreams and giving her a sleeping potion for them instead so that she didn't find out about her potential abilities, but he realized that he was wrong thanks to Cara telling him exactly how Morgana had been made to feel for so long.

Gaius immediately noticed the worried look on Morgana's face as she began to tell him about Sophia being the same woman as the one in her dreams. He knew that Morgana's dreams were likely to come true from what he knew of their success rate in the past so he took what she said seriously. So seriously in fact that he started a fire on his bench by ignoring his experiment for too long.

"Sorry for distracting you, Gaius," Morgana apologized.

"That's alright. This was very important. I had to be told immediately. We have to find out everything that we can about this girl as soon as possible and put a stop to her before your dream comes true," Gaius said as he put out the fire with a bucket.

Morgana and Cara soon went to Sophia's quarters once they saw her father leaving in order to confront her alone. Cara knocked on the door, and Sophia soon answered it.

"Hello. To what may I attribute this visit?" Sophia said in a pleasant voice as she invited them inside her room.

As soon as Sophia shut the door, Morgana said, "You know full well why we're here. I know what you're up to, and I'm not going to let you get away with it."

"It sounds like you're jealous to me. What's the matter? Afraid that Arthur might pick me over you?" Sophia said as she suddenly lost her formerly pleasant manner.

"You know you make a terrible human," Cara said in a cold voice.

"What?" Sophia asked in sudden terror.

"You may have fooled them, but you didn't fool me. I know your kind, Sophia. I've dealt with the Sidhe for a long time. You cannot hide what you are from me. Or rather what you were. I can still sense the scent of Avalon on you. That's what this is all about, isn't it? You've become trapped in human form, and now you seek to get back what once was yours," Cara said as she looked at Sophia with anger flashing in her eyes.

"Who are you?" Sophia asked in terror.

Morgana was afraid as well. It was as if Cara's entire manner had changed, and she had become a different person in the blink of an eye. She radiated an aura of strength and power now as she looked at Sophia with complete disdain as if she were an insect beneath her feet.

"I am far more than a mere human that's who I am, Sophia. If you do not stay out of my way, you will find out the full truth about me. You will understand just what it means to cross my path, and on that day you will learn to fear my power," Cara threatened as she towered over the cowering Sidhe girl.

"Please, don't kill me! I just want to go home. Leave me alone!" Sophia said in terror.

"Cara?" Morgana said to Cara in concern.

Cara blinked and then she suddenly changed right in front of Morgana just as swiftly as she had before. Suddenly the feeling of great power that she had been giving off in waves disappeared, and kindness returned to her eyes as it replaced the anger in them once more as she became the Cara that Morgana knew again.

"What is it, Morgana? Why are you looking at me like that?" Cara asked in confusion.

Morgana quickly realized that Cara had no memory of what had just happened to her and said nothing. She didn't want to do anything that might trigger that other person to return again. The other Cara terrified her.

Sophia was still shaking and shrunk away from Cara in fear as Morgana said, "Tell us what you're up to, and my friend might be lenient with you."

"Yes, I may decide to show you mercy if you tell us what's going on," Cara said as she played along with Morgana's bluff.

"I'll tell you everything. Please don't kill me!" Sophia said in a frightened voice.

"I won't if you just leave Arthur alone. I know you're here to kill him," Cara said.

"How will killing Arthur help you go home?" Morgana asked.

"What?" Cara asked her in surprise.

"She has to kill him in order to go home apparently, and her home is Avalon wherever that is," Morgana said as she put everything that she had heard earlier together.

"It's true. My father and I were turned into humans just as you said, Priestess, and exiled to this world as a punishment for his killing another Sidhe. We can go home though if we sacrifice Arthur to the Sidhe elders because he is a mortal Prince," Sophia admitted.

"Your father can't go with you. Only you will be able to go back," Cara said.

"What? How do you know that?" Sophia asked as she became even more upset.

"Your father killed another Sidhe. They'll never forgive him for that. He's exiled forever. I don't know how I know that. I just do. Only you will be able to return home. Once the ceremony has begun, you will have to make a sacrifice or the Sidhe will take you instead," Cara said.

"How do you know all of that?" Morgana asked her in shock.

"I don't know. I just do. I really am a sorceress apparently," Cara said with a disturbed look on her face.

"You are much more than that. I recognize you now. I apologize for not having known you earlier, and I thank you for telling me the truth. My father lied to me. He was going to have me go back and leave him here alone. That I will never do. I would rather be human forever than to do that," Sophia said.

"You know me? Who am I? Please! Tell me!" Cara begged her.

"Is this a test?" Sophia asked in puzzlement.

"Yes, it is. The Priestess merely wishes to see if you truly know her or not," Morgana quickly improvised.

"Of course I do. You are the great High Priestess of the Old Religion, Nimueh," Sophia said with confidence.

"My name is Cara," Cara insisted.

"Yes, that is one of your names that you sometimes assume, but your true name is Nimueh. I had thought that Camelot was your enemy after the Great Purge, but if I am mistaken then I am sorry. Please, Great Nimueh, spare me! I only wished to go home. Now that I know that I can't leave with my father as I had previously believed though, I no longer care to go back there. You don't need to worry about me killing Arthur now. I no longer have a desire to," Sophia said.

"No, that can't be right," Cara said to herself in shock.

"I assure you it's true. I won't hurt Arthur now. I no longer have a reason to," Sophia insisted.

"Yes, you will," Aulfric, her father, said as he reentered the room to hear this.

"Nimueh just told me that you have lied to me, Father. I will not leave you behind here all alone. We will live here together in this mortal realm instead," Sophia said stubbornly.

"You will return home and be a Sidhe again no matter what the cost," Aulfric said defiantly.

"I think not. Not unless you want to anger the mighty Nimueh," Morgana said.

Cara looked at her like she was crazy, but she went along with her as she said in what she hoped was her best tough voice, "That's true. Arthur is under my protection. You will have to kill me first before you can get to him. Do you dare to risk my wrath?"

Aulfric studied her for a moment and then laughed as he said, "You have been deceived, Sophia. This is not Nimueh. She is far too timid and weak to be her. The Nimueh that I know has incredible strength and power. Do you think that this frightened girl could really be her? Look at her. She's obviously terrified and trying her best to hide it."

"No, Father! I thought that as well at first, and then she revealed her true power when I angered her. She is Nimueh. She is in disguise at the moment that is all," Sophia protested.

"You have been taken for a fool, Sophia," Aulfric said as he shook his head at her.

"Was she lying in what she said?" Sophia asked.

Aulfric started to lie but knew that she would see through it so he merely nodded instead.

"That settles it then. I'm not going," Sophia said.

"I'm afraid you are," Aulfric said as he took his Sidhe staff and used it on her to knock her unconscious.

She fell forward and he caught her even as Cara and Morgana stood there in shock watching the whole thing. He then slowly and gently laid her on the floor.

"Forgive me," Aulfric said to Sophia as he kissed her forehead.

"You'll have to get through us first," Morgana said as she tried to sound confident and tough.

"As you wish!" Aulfric said as he pointed the staff at the two women.

It was then that Merlin burst into the room and sent Aulfric flying against the wall with a quickly muttered spell. He had been told by Gaius to follow Cara and Morgana to make sure that nothing happened to them, and now he was glad that he had. Aulfric dropped the staff as he flew backwards, and Merlin quickly ran to get it before Aulfric recovered.

"You're going to take yourselves out of here and never come back," Merlin ordered him as he pointed the staff at him.

"Yes, of course. Just let me pick my daughter up. She's still unconscious," Aulfric said as he moved toward Sophia.

What Merlin didn't know was that Sophia's staff had fallen to the floor just behind her now unconscious body where he couldn't see it when Aulfric had knocked her out. As Aulfric pretended to be picking his daughter up, he went for her staff instead.

"Merlin, watch out!" Cara warned him as she saw this first before he did. Her heart was filled with terror, and she was the most afraid that she had ever been in her life in that moment.

Aulfric came up off of the floor with the staff in his hands quickly and started to fire it at Merlin first, but Merlin was far too quick for him. Merlin swiftly disintegrated him with a blast from his own staff.

Sophia woke up just in time to see her father being killed and screamed in pain as she started to grab her staff where it now lay on the floor in the spot where her father had just stood only moments before. She was determined to avenge his death.

"No!" Cara shouted as she suddenly stood between Sophia and Merlin as they pointed their staffs at each other.

"He killed my father!" Sophia screamed.

"Your father was going to kill me and my friends," Merlin said.

"He was only defending himself. He gave your father a chance to take you and leave peacefully, and he tried to attack Merlin instead," Cara said.

"Even so, he killed him. He didn't have to do that," Sophia said.

"I'm sorry but I didn't want him to kill my friends," Merlin said.

"He only did it to help me. He wanted me to get to go home," Sophia said.

"What are you going to do now, Sophia? Are you going to attack Merlin too and possibly die in an attempt to return there?" Cara asked.

"I don't see the point in going back there without my father. I also don't want to stay mortal though," Sophia said in indecision.

"It's not so bad really," Cara said with a friendly smile on her face.

"I just wanted to go home, but now that my father's dead I'm not so sure what I want anymore," Sophia said.

"I'd rather not have to kill you," Merlin admitted.

"I don't want to die either. I can't believe he was going to make me go back there without him anyway despite what I wanted," Sophia said.

"He loved you. He just wanted to give you your life back," Merlin said.

"It wouldn't have been much of a life back there without him. Now I don't have him anyway. I feel like I want to die, and yet I'm still frightened of it," Sophia said as she looked at Merlin with uncertainty on her face.

"I'm sorry that I had to kill him, but I would do it again to save the woman that I love," Merlin said.

"It's all so senseless. We all did what we did for others and look where it got us. My father's gone, and I'm doomed now to be alone forever no matter what I do. It's either that or die. Neither alternative looks good to me right now," Sophia said.

"You don't have to be alone, Sophia. Join us and help us to establish a new reign of peace in Camelot someday. You can help make our world a better place. One where magic can be practiced freely without fear and all are welcomed," Cara said.

"It sounds nice. Do you really think that it could happen?" Sophia asked as she started to weaken.

"Yes," Cara said with firm resolve on her face.

Sophia looked at her for a moment and saw that she meant what she said. She nodded her head and slowly lowered her staff to the floor even as Merlin did his.

"I'll join you. I might as well make something out of this new life of mine, and it would be good to have friends so that I don't have to be alone here," Sophia said.

"Thank you," Cara said as she picked Sophia's staff up off of the floor and handed it back to her.

"You want me to keep it?" Sophia asked in surprise.

"Yes. Don't try to back out of your word though or I may unleash a terrible something on you!" Cara said as she pretended to be tough again.

"I won't. I promise that I will stick to my word. I will only use my staff to aid your cause from now on," Sophia said.

Merlin sighed in relief and looked at Cara in amazement. She had not only defused a potentially disastrous situation but had also gained them a powerful new ally. He loved her even more now, and he never thought that would be possible before.

Cara looked at Sophia with a troubled expression even as she felt a sense of relief wash over her. She would have to ask her more about this Nimueh that she was so certain that she was supposed to be later. She had to find out more about her, and Sophia was her only way of doing that.

She had to know for sure if she were really Nimueh or not. From the way that Sophia had made her sound though, she wasn't so sure that she wanted to be.

Sophia swiftly made up a story to tell Uther about her father so that he wouldn't become suspicious. She said that he was traveling alone around the countryside searching for a new home for both of them. He might take months to return or even longer. The king liked Sophia however and told her that she could stay as long as she needed to.

Arthur was delighted. He had Sophia as a next door neighbor for who knew how long now. He was sure to become involved in a relationship with her in that amount of time. Less than a week would probably be all that he needed he was sure.

Needless to say Morgana was not pleased by this. She began to wonder if maybe they shouldn't have just let Merlin kill her after all.

It was later that night that Cara finally paid Sophia a visit in her quarters. It was just a day until her date with Merlin. She had to know more about this Nimueh person before she could commit to any kind of relationship. Morgana went with her because she still didn't trust Sophia and didn't want to leave Cara alone with her.

Once Sophia let them inside, Cara cut to the chase right away as she said, "Tell me more about Nimueh. Tell me everything that you know about her."

Sophia looked at her oddly as she said, "Do you wish to know if I know any of your secrets? I know nothing that could harm you; and even if I did, I would never act against you. I have sworn to help you."

"Humor her, Sophia. Tell us what you know," Morgana said.

"You are the High Priestess of the Old Religion known as Nimueh. According to my father, you were friends with the king until his wife died giving birth to Prince Arthur. Uther blamed you for that for some reason unknown to either my father or me, and that's when he declared war on you and all other magic users. That was what started the Great Purge. Now though it seems as if you are friends with Uther once more or why would you be here? I can tell you more about what I know about you if you wish," Sophia said.

Both Cara and Morgana looked at her in shock and couldn't speak for a moment. Then Cara finally said in a weak voice, "Yes, tell me more."

Sophia continued to tell her more about Nimueh and what she had done in her life. Cara started to cry and shake her head in denial as Sophia said one horrible thing after another about her.

"That's not possible. It can't be," Cara said in a small, sad voice.

"Did I do something wrong? I just did as you requested," Sophia said in confusion.

"You did just fine. She's testing you again," Morgana said as she ad libbed.

"Oh, I see. You actually fooled me. I thought you were really upset," Sophia said with a relieved smile.

"Yes, I'm a very good actress when I need to be," Cara said as she tried to regain her composure and thought of herself as anything but a good actress after falling apart the way that she just did.

"Nimueh is going by the name of Cara now, Sophia. She wants you to call her that from now on, and she doesn't want you to tell anyone else what you have just told us. Especially not the king," Morgana said.

"That's right," Cara said numbly as she sat there still in shock.

"I will do as you wish," Sophia agreed.

Cara and Morgana quickly left Sophia's room then as the young Sidhe looked at them in puzzlement. She could sense that something was wrong but didn't quite understand what it was exactly since she was so new to being human.

When Cara noticed that Morgana was now looking at her in fear, she tried to reassure her as she said," It's not true, Morgana. It can't be. She must have me mistaken with someone else. I would never do such things."

"I'm just shaken by what we heard. I know that you would never do anything like that," Morgana said.

Morgana wasn't completely lying when she said that. She did believe that about Cara, but not about the other side of her that she saw earlier. She was completely terrified of her and had made up her mind to not tell Cara anything about that incident. She didn't want to take any chances of that other person ever returning again and taking her over.

"I would never hurt you or any of my friends, Morgana. I don't even see how I could. I barely remember anything about magic. I just remember a few things here and there. Sophia is wrong. She has to be," Cara said in a worried voice.

"Of course she is. She's just mistaken. We'll just pretend that you're this Nimueh though around her to make sure that she stays on our side. I don't trust her. I wish she wasn't right next to Arthur. What if she changes her mind about going back and decides to kill him anyway?" Morgana said.

"We just have to watch her carefully and hope that doesn't happen," Cara said with a haunted look on her face.

"You're a good person, Cara. You're not evil. I know that. Stop worrying about it," Morgana said as she hugged her.

Please stop worrying or your other self might come back. Morgana thought to herself with fear.

She loved and trusted Cara completely and hoped that she would stay in control of herself. She didn't want to lose one of the few friends that she had.

"You're right, Morgana. I am not Nimueh. I never was and I never will be. My name is Cara," Cara said firmly as she began to smile again.

"That's right. Sophia is probably just trying to trick you anyway with all of those stories. I don't trust her or anything that she says," Morgana said.

Cara resolved to ignore what Sophia had told her. She would not let it affect her. She was going to continue to live her life just as she had been before. Maybe one day she would find out the real truth about herself and who she had been in the past. She certainly hoped so. She also hoped that what she found out would paint a much better picture of her than Sophia had.

The next day it was time for Cara's date with Merlin at last. She was no longer nervous about it anymore. Now she was actually looking forward to it.

They decided to go out deep into the woods and had a picnic there. The two of them ate some of Arthur's food that Merlin had 'liberated' from his plate. Cara appreciated the gesture if not so much the theft. She wondered if Merlin would have to pay for this later when Arthur inevitably found out about it. She silently promised herself that she would help Merlin with whatever punishment that Arthur gave him.

After they were finished eating, Merlin said, "Cara, I need to know something. Do you love me? I need to know that because I love you. I'm been in love with you almost from the moment I first saw you."

He looked at her expectantly as he waited for her answer. Cara tried not to smile at the terrified look on his face for fear of making him think that she was laughing at him.

"Yes," Cara said.

"Yes?" Merlin asked.

"Yes. I wasn't sure before, but when you said that Sophia was beautiful it actually made me jealous for a moment. Then when I saw you in danger from Aulfric, I knew. I knew then that I loved you without question. I became completely terrified when I thought that he might kill you because I couldn't imagine my life without you!" Cara said.

Merlin's smile covered his entire face as she had just expressed his own feelings about her in almost the exact same words, and he wrapped his arms around her tightly. He began to laugh with joy and so did Cara.

As they kissed for the first time, Cara was completely certain that Sophia was wrong. There was no way that the Nimueh that she described could feel the way that she felt about Merlin.

She was finally convinced at last that she was not her.

Soon though, she would see that she was so very wrong. Everything would change the day that Morgause came to Camelot.

**Next: The Black Knight, Tristan de Bois, returns from the dead to plague Camelot. A mysterious woman named Morgause just happens to appear in the court of Camelot at the same time, and she has a very interesting tale to tell Arthur about his mother. Could she be behind the Black Knight's return? Also the fate of Mordred in this new world is revealed. What happens to him may surprise you!**


	5. The Return of Nimueh

CHAPTER 5

I do not own Merlin or Star Wars and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE RETURN OF NIMUEH

Mordred had been running what seemed like forever from one part of Camelot to another as he hid from the guards who had been pursuing him ever since they had found out that he and his master Cerdan were druids. Cerdan had given himself up to the guards to give Mordred the chance to escape even though he knew what would happen to him as a result. As he felt Cerdan die while he moved from one area of Camelot to another in an attempt to outrace the guards, Mordred let out a silent psychic scream. He knew now that Uther had had him executed almost as soon as he had found him.

Despite the pain that Cerdan's death had brought him, he somehow managed to make his way into the lower depths of the King's Palace and down into the Burial Vaults without being caught. He now sat alone in the pitch darkness as he decided to hide there. He was sure that no one would come down there to search for him especially at night. He finally felt safe here among the dead.

He was so wrong.

Mordred went to sleep as soon as night fell and planned to leave the vaults in the morning. He was sound asleep when the grave of Tristan de Bois cracked open nearby him, and a gauntleted hand broke through it.

Mordred never even had time to scream before the undead wraith broke his neck.

Kilgarrah woke from his slumber with wide open eyes filled with surprise and shock as he felt the destiny of Camelot and Merlin suddenly being changed forever. Ever since Nimueh had become Cara, things had been slowly spiraling out of control and getting further and further away from the way that Kilgarrah had originally foreseen them happening. Kilgarrah had feared what was coming because of this, and somehow had a feeling that whatever it was would bring a major upheaval to the lives of everyone. Now his fears had finally been proven to be completely justified.

They had all finally passed the point of no return now. There was no way to go back to the original timeline at this point even if they wanted to do so. Anything could happen to Camelot now that Arthur no longer had a predetermined destiny. Mordred was dead.

Merlin and Cara were only at that moment coming back to Camelot late from yet another date in the woods where they had completely lost track of the time until they realized that it was getting dark. He was sure that Arthur was probably having a fit looking for him. At the moment though, he really didn't care. His Cara was worth any risk as far as he was concerned.

They arrived just in time to be there for the beginning of Arthur's swearing in ceremony to become the Prince of Camelot. Merlin was glad that he at least had gotten back in time to see this anyway. He actually felt proud to see Arthur be made into the official heir of the kingdom.

Merlin and Cara stood there and clapped along with Gwen and Lancelot as Arthur's ceremony finished. The entire room applauded the new Prince as well. It was a beautiful moment.

That is it was until it was turned into a nightmare.

Tristan de Bois, the Black Knight, suddenly burst through a stained glass window on horseback and walked the horse up to Arthur. The Black Knight then threw down a gauntlet at Arthur's feet as he challenged him to a duel.

Arthur started to pick the gauntlet up himself, but another knight beat him to it. Sir Owain raced to the gauntlet ahead of him and picked it up first. All the while, Uther looked at the crest on the Black Knight's shield in shock. He had a feeling of dread go through him as he saw his past coming back to haunt him.

Sir Owain accepted the Black Knight's challenge, and a duel was then arranged for the next day at noon. It would be a fight to the death between the two of them. The Black Knight then rode out leaving everyone in shock.

Even as Merlin asked Gaius who the knight had been and found out that he had no idea either, Cara had a flashback of memory as she recalled him for a brief moment. She suddenly remembered who he was and more importantly she remembered that he had died twenty years before. How could he have been walking around in the present day offering to fight in duels?

Cara walked up to Merlin and Gaius and told them both what she had remembered immediately as she posed the very same question to them. Merlin and Gaius exchanged a look as they realized that Cara was remembered more and more of her past. Merlin shuddered as he feared that Cara might be slipping farther and farther away from him by the moment.

"So he is Tristan de Bois, the queen's brother. I didn't recognize him before. Do you know what happened to him then?" Gaius asked Cara.

"Uther killed him, but I don't remember why," Cara said as she squeezed her eyes together in pain.

"How do you know all of this?" Merlin took the risk of asking. He had to know what she remembered.

"I don't know. I just remember bits and pieces of the story. It's as if I lived it, but that can't be possible. I'm too young," Cara said.

Gaius knew that she was the same age as he was though even if she didn't. She had used her powerful magic to somehow remain youthful in appearance all of these decades even as he had become an old man.

"I can finish the story from there and tell you why Uther killed him. Arthur's mother, Ygraine, died giving birth to Arthur. Tristan believed that it was Uther's fault, and he challenged him to single combat just as Sir Owain did to him today. Uther won but even as he lay dying Tristan refused to give up. He promised one day that he would return from the dead. It sounds like that he may have actually done just that somehow by becoming a wraith," Gaius said.

"A wraith?" Merlin asked.

"A wraith is a spirit that is filled with grief and rage that has been brought back from the dead by a powerful sorcerer," Cara said with a distant look in her eyes.

"How do we kill it?" Merlin asked Cara even as he looked at Gaius yet again with fear.

"No normal weapons can kill it. Only magic can destroy one. Otherwise it will never stop until it does whatever it came back from the grave to do. If Sir Owain fights it, then he is doomed. We should warn him," Cara said.

"He will still be honor bound to fight regardless because he accepted the challenge. It is the Knights' Code," Gaius said.

"That's insane. We need to tell him about Tristan anyway," Cara said.

"How do we say that we know this?" Merlin asked.

"We just tell him what we know about Tristan and leave out the part about the wraith. Gaius knew him in life so that would explain how we knew who he was if we're asked," Cara said.

They told Sir Owain that he was fighting a man who was supposed to be dead, but he still refused to give up the challenge just as Gaius predicted. Cara begged him not to fight, but he did not back down.

The next day as Owain faced off against Tristan, he started off the battle by stabbing Tristan in the gut. For a brief moment Owain was sure that he had won, but Tristan shrugged the wound off as if it was nothing. He kept on fighting until he dealt Owain a mortal wound instead.

Tristan throw down his gauntlet yet again, and Arthur was prevented from reaching it this time by Uther. This time Sir Pellinor picked up the gauntlet and accepted the challenge even as Arthur glared in anger at his father for stopping him from doing it himself.

Sir Pellinor faced off against Tristan next, and he too gave the wraith what would have been a mortal blow. Just as before, Tristan fought on and killed Pellinor.

This time Arthur challenged Tristan to single combat on noon the next day. Tristan eagerly accepted. He had finally gotten the fight that he wanted. Surely the life of his son being at stake would make Uther himself challenge him now in his son's place.

"I won't stand by and let Arthur die too. If only magic can destroy it, then that's what I'll use against it," Merlin said to Gaius and Cara as he went to get his magic book from under his bed.

Cara looked at Merlin with a frown as he left while Gaius tried to warn him not to attack Tristan. Somehow she knew that whatever Merlin was planning would not work.

Uther tried to change Arthur's mind about the fight but failed. Later Gaius tried to convince Uther to tell Arthur the truth about his mother's death. Gaius too failed. Pendragons always were extremely stubborn.

Later that night, Merlin silently approached Tristan at the Training Grounds where he had been staying in-between each battle. Merlin used his magic to light Tristan on fire, but the fire quickly faded as the undead knight growled at him in defiance. Merlin then fled.

Cara had followed Merlin there and silently approached Tristan even as Merlin left. For some reason that she couldn't explain, Cara felt no fear as she walked right up to the undead warrior and stood face to face with him.

"Call off this fight and leave Camelot," Cara said.

"Who are you to order me to do anything? Leave now or I'll kill you just as I did the two knights, little girl," Tristan threatened.

"You will not kill Arthur," Cara said defiantly.

Tristan grabbed her by the neck and held her off of the ground as she struggled futilely against him. He then took her and threw her several feet across the field like a rag doll!

Cara quickly stood up off of the ground and instantly her entire demeanor had changed. The same inner strength and power that she had before as she faced off against Sophia had returned.

"Stand down!" Cara commanded.

"I do not serve you. Only the one who raised me can stop me now. My mistress has commanded me to kill Arthur Pendragon, and that is what I must do. Camelot must fall!" Tristan shouted.

"I would have had mercy on you because of my role in your death if you had only relented, but I see that you have no choice in the matter. You are a puppet with no will of your own," Cara said.

"That may be true but I would not stop fighting anyway even if I did have a choice until I either killed Uther or took his son away from him just as he took my sister. Only then will I be able to rest in peace," Tristan said.

"You have made your choice then. So be it," Cara said as power flowed out of her hands and straight into Tristan.

Tristan screamed in pain and rage as he said, "I will not be denied my vengeance!"

He quickly grabbed his sword and rushed at Cara. She continued to pour blast after blast of mystic energy into him even as he ran headfirst towards her. Tristan did not stop though until he plunged his sword into her abdomen.

Cara fell to the ground screaming in pain as Tristan towered over her. He raised his sword up over his head ready to cut the severely wounded Cara in half at any moment.

Then a bolt of mystic energy knocked the sword out of the wraith's hand and sent it flying away from him. Sophia continued to fire bolt after bolt of energy at the wraith even as Morgana and Merlin pulled Cara's wounded body out of the line of fire.

Merlin had instantly realized where Cara was when he came back to their quarters to ask her to go with him to talk some sense into Arthur only to find her missing. He had asked Morgana and Sophia to come with him to help her. He knew that she would be in deadly danger. They had arrived just in time to see her fall to the ground.

"You are very brave, girl! I could snap you in two like a twig, but I have no quarrel with you. Take your friend and go. It does not matter anyway. She will soon die," Tristan said.

Sophia backed down and ran. She knew that her blasts were having no effect on the undead being anyway.

Merlin and Morgana took Cara to Gaius' chambers where they laid her out on Merlin's bed. Gaius tried desperately to treat Cara's wounds, but he knew they were mortal. There was only one way that she could survive now.

"Why did you do that, Cara? Why?" Merlin said in anguish as Cara slipped in and out of consciousness.

"I wasn't at full power because my mind is fragmented. I only have bits and pieces of memories here and there. If I had been at full strength with an intact mind, I could have stopped him," Cara mumbled.

"What are you saying, Cara?" Merlin asked even as he feared the answer.

"Don't act stupid, my love. We both know the truth. You know who I am. You've known for a while now even though I didn't. I'm starting to remember now too. I've been trying not to though. Every time that I started to remember, I forced myself to forget again," Cara said.

"You have to remember everything now, Nimueh. If you don't, you will never regain your full power. You can only save yourself with your full strength," Gaius said.

"Nimueh?! So it's true!" Morgana said in shock.

"Yes. She is Nimueh, the enemy of Camelot. She lost her memory though and became Cara, the woman that she used to be before she was lost to darkness," Gaius said.

"How could someone as sweet as Cara turn so evil?" Morgana asked in disbelief.

"It happens when you're exposed to too much dark magic and your mind and soul are slowly corrupted by it over time. You are soon a twisted dark reflection of what you once were," Gaius explained.

"That's why I can never allow myself to fully remember everything again. If I ever do, the dark magic that changed me will regain its hold on me once more. I'd rather die as who I was then to ever become that creature again," Cara said.

"I don't want you to die. I love you!" Merlin said in tears.

"If I remembered everything and healed myself, I would no longer be the woman that you loved anyway, Merlin. I'll die either way. At least this way, I don't have to die as your enemy. I don't want to hurt you. I love you too, and I'll gladly die to save you from myself," Cara said as she began to have trouble breathing.

"No! Please!" Merlin said in a voice filled with pain.

"It's better this way," Cara said with a warm smile.

"Maybe if I kill the wraith, she'll be saved. I have to find a way to destroy it," Merlin said grasping at straws as he ran to talk to Geoffrey of Monmouth.

"Merlin!" Gaius called out to him but he would not stop.

"That won't save her, will it?" Morgana asked.

"No. Cara is dead unless she becomes Nimueh again. That is the only thing that will save her now," Gaius said.

Merlin quickly found out from Geoffrey that only a sword blessed by a dragon could destroy a wraith. He then rushed to get a sword from Gwen. She gave him the strongest sword that her father, the blacksmith, had ever made once he explained that it was to be used to save Arthur.

Merlin then took the sword to Kilgarrah and had him breathe fire on it and instill it with some of his own power. Kilgarrah carefully made Merlin promise only to let Arthur wield it and no one else since such a weapon could be used to do great evil in the wrong hands.

While this was happening, Uther paid Gaius a visit in his quarters in order to ask him to drug Arthur so that he could take his place in the fight. He was completely surprised to see Cara lying in Merlin's bed wounded.

"What happened to her?" Uther asked.

"She thought that she could talk Tristan out of killing Arthur," Gaius said leaving out some of the details of Cara's 'talk' with him.

"He tried to kill that poor, defenseless girl just for talking to him?! He definitely is nothing like the man that he was anymore. It's just as well that I'm ending this now. I'm going to fight him myself, Gaius. I need you to drug Arthur so that I can take his place. Once he kills me, then this will all end. Both Arthur and the kingdom will be safe. Will she survive?" Uther asked as he looked at Cara with sadness.

"I don't think so, Sire," Gaius said in a grave voice.

"For once, I hope that you're wrong. Now go do as I ask," Uther instructed.

As Gaius started to leave to get Morgana or Gwen to look after Cara in his absence, Uther said, "Promise me that you will never tell Arthur the truth about what happened to his mother even after I am dead."

"I won't. I will keep my word just as I always have," Gaius promised.

Satisfied with this, Uther left. He would go to the armory first thing in the morning to prepare to take Arthur's place. Gaius quickly asked Morgana to look after Cara as he left to do as Uther requested.

As Gaius headed to Arthur's room though, he was surprised to find a young blonde woman dressed in armor already standing in front of his door. The woman looked as if she was just about to go inside when Gaius said, "Who are you?"

The woman turned around and said with a smile, "I'm here to see Arthur not you. I have a message for his ears and his alone."

"How did you get in here?" Gaius asked.

"Your soldiers are no match for me especially as tense as they are about this wraith. They're no match for a true warrior," the woman said.

Gaius suddenly noticed two guards lying unconscious on the floor nearby. He knew now that this must be the sorceress who had raised the wraith.

"I won't let you kill him as you wish to do with his father," Gaius said.

"If that were the case, I would have simply let Tristan finish him off tomorrow. No, I want to turn Uther's son against him for all eternity. I will tell Arthur the truth about his mother. Then once Uther is dead at Tristan's hand, he will lift the ban on magic once more. Only then will my plan be complete," the woman said.

"Who are you?" Gaius demanded yet again.

"That's what I'd like to know," Arthur said as he stood in his doorway now with a sword pointed at the woman.

"I am Morgause. I came here to tell you the truth about your father and his involvement in your mother's death," Morgause said.

"What? What are you saying?" Arthur said as he became filled with anger.

"Don't listen to her, Sire. She is the one who sent Tristan here to kill your father," Gaius warned.

"I know. I heard her. So why should I believe anything that you tell me?" Arthur asked.

"Will you believe it if it comes from your mother herself?" Morgause asked.

"She will use her magic to make it appear as if it's your mother, Arthur. She can create an illusion that will say anything that she wants it to," Gaius said.

"That's true. What do you have to say to that, Morgause?" Arthur asked.

"I want you to see why your father put the ban on magic in place. I want you to see what a hypocrite he is for yourself, and then by seeing that I want you to take the ban off yourself once you become king. I believe that once you see your mother with your own eyes and hear her story with her own words that you'll know that she is real and no illusion. Come with me and find out the real truth," Morgause said.

"What about my father? Am I supposed to let your creature kill him?" Arthur asked.

"I will call him off if that is what it will take to get you to agree to come with me. Otherwise, he will not stop until he kills either you or your father. I would rather that it not be you so that's why I came here in person to talk to you once I found out that you had decided to fight Tristan yourself tomorrow. I have nothing against you only your father," Morgause said.

"If I go with you, my father and Camelot will be spared?" Arthur asked wavering.

"Yes," Morgause said.

"What if I still don't believe whatever my supposed mother has to say? What then?" Arthur asked.

"Don't do this, Sire!" Gaius implored him.

"Answer the question, Morgause," Arthur said as he ignored Gaius. Gaius' intense reaction had finally convinced Arthur that whatever Morgause wanted him to hear must have some merit to it.

"If you still do not believe what your mother will tell you, then I will let you go free. I will not send Tristan back," Morgause said.

"How do I know that you'll keep your word?" Arthur asked.

"You don't but it is the only sure way to save your father and your kingdom, isn't it?" Morgause said.

"Alright, I'll go with you," Arthur said.

"No. You can't do this!" Gaius protested.

"I've had enough of this," Morgause said as she blasted Gaius with a bolt of energy from her hand.

Gaius fell to the floor unconscious as Arthur said, "If he's dead, I'll . . ."

"Don't worry. He'll be fine. I put him to sleep. See for yourself," Morgause said as she moved aside to let him look at Gaius.

Arthur checked and could see that she spoke the truth. He carefully dragged Gaius into his room and put him in his bed as he shut the door behind him.

"I'll go with you, Morgause, but if you try anything I'll cut you down without mercy," Arthur said.

"You don't have to worry. I've already gotten you. That's all that I wanted," Morgause said.

Then as Arthur turned his back on her, she put him to sleep as well in the same way as she had Gaius. She dragged him back into his room and laid him down beside Gaius on the bed.

Morgause smiled. She had lied of course. She had known that Arthur was listening to her conversation with Gaius so she had quickly decided to use his own curiosity and suspicions that she knew that he must have about what happened to his mother against him. What she had really wanted all along was Uther, and she was still going to get him. She was going to destroy both him and Camelot at the same time. It would be all the easier now with Arthur out of the way. Now he could no longer take his father's place in combat and continue to delay the inevitable. She wanted Uther dead now!

As Morgause headed toward the crypt, she reawakened the guards that she had knocked out leaving them with no memory of what had just happened as she passed them by. She would hide in the crypt until after Tristan killed Uther, and then she would use the Rowan Staff to bring all of the dead in the crypt back to life to destroy Camelot completely.

Nothing could stop her now.

Merlin came back to his quarters after visiting the dragon only to find Morgana there instead of Gaius. He was automatically concerned now as he was sure that Gaius wouldn't have left Cara's side unless it was an emergency.

"Where is Gaius?" Merlin asked.

"He said something about having to go see Arthur. He said that he would come back soon, but that was quite some time ago," Morgana said.

"Something's wrong. I can feel it," Merlin said.

"You need to go find out. Take Sophia with you," Morgana suggested.

"I thought you didn't trust her," Merlin said.

"I'm not so sure about that anymore. She did help us rescue Cara so maybe she's not as bad as I thought," Morgana admitted.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. Cara? Can you hear me?" Merlin asked as he switched his attentions to the nearly unconscious Cara.

"Good luck," Cara said with a smile.

"Hold on, Cara. I'll destroy the wraith soon," Merlin assured her as he left.

"It won't do any good for me. I'm finished," Cara said in a weak voice.

"Don't say that, Cara. You need to hang on. Who am I going to have to talk to if you die? Merlin's alright, but he's not a girl," Morgana said.

"Arthur seems to disagree with you sometimes," Cara said with a smile.

"There you go. Who else is going to make jokes with me like that? Certainly not Merlin. He wouldn't appreciate them," Morgana said as she gave her a smile of her own.

"I'm sorry, Morgana. I hope that you find a new friend someday," Cara said as she began to go to sleep.

"No! Please hold on!" Morgana said as she tried to keep her awake. She knew that if Cara were to go to sleep now that she would never wake up.

As Morgana tried to keep Cara awake, Merlin went to Arthur's room to find Sophia already there standing at the door. She kept knocking, but no one answered.

"I heard talking outside my door as if people were arguing, and then everything suddenly went silent. By the time that I came out to see what was going on, I saw no one there. I was just about to break into Arthur's room," Sophia said.

"I'm sure that any other time that he'd like that, Sophia. I'm not sure what's going on with him. Gaius was supposed to have come over here to see Arthur about something, but he never returned. I came to see what's going on. I have a bad feeling about this," Merlin said.

"We will see together then," Sophia said as she pulled out her staff and used it to open Arthur's door.

They found both of them asleep, and they couldn't wake them up no matter how hard they tried. Merlin immediately knew that they were both under a spell.

"The sorcerer who raised Tristan is here. They're making their final move because Uther isn't dead yet. We have to find them and put a stop to this," Merlin said.

"I can already detect them with my magic. I'll lead you to them," Sophia said.

"You can do that?" Merlin asked impressed.

"You're still too inexperienced, Merlin, or you could do it yourself. Once you become properly attuned to the feel of magic around you, you will be able to instantly detect its use in the immediate area," Sophia said as she closed the door to Arthur's room and started to lead the way to Morgause.

"Thank you for helping me," Merlin said in appreciation.

"This is my fight too. I live here now just like the rest of you," Sophia said with a warm smile.

The two sorcerers tracked Morgause down to the crypt, and Merlin lit a torch with his magic for them to see by. They quickly entered the crypt to see Morgause turn around and face them in surprise.

"Who are you?" Morgause asked.

"That was going to be my question actually," Merlin answered.

"You won't stop me. Camelot will fall, and then the Old Religion will be free to take hold across the land once again. I actually hate to have to do this because I can sense that you are both creatures of the Old Religion just as I am, but I'm going to have to kill you. You can't be allowed to warn anyone that I'm here," Morgause said.

"You can try," Merlin said boldly as he held up Excalibur in front of him.

It seemed that he was going to have to break his promise to the dragon about the sword already. It was all in a good cause though.

"It appears that I'm going to have to move up my timetable considerably. I hadn't planned on doing this until later, but needs must dictate actions by necessity it seems in this situation," Morgause said as she planted the Rowan Staff into the ground of the crypt, and it began to glow with power.

"Now I'm getting a really bad feeling about this," Merlin said.

"She's going to raise all of the dead in this tomb as wraiths. They'll all be like Tristan," Sophia warned.

"That's what I was afraid of. It's a good thing that I have a sword that can kill wraiths then, isn't it?" Merlin said with a grin.

"That may not do you any good in the long run. Do you honestly think that you can kill everyone who was ever buried in this crypt before they can kill us?" Sophia asked.

"I guess we're about to find out," Merlin said in an uncertain voice as dozens of wraiths began to burst forth from their tombs all around them.

As Merlin and Sophia started to do battle with every wraith in the crypt, Uther went to the armory in order to prepare for his battle with Tristan. He knew that he was about to die soon, but he was confident that his death would satisfy the wraith's desire for vengeance. His sacrifice would mean that his son would finally be free from the consequences of his mistakes.

He had caused all of this by insisting that Nimueh use magic to make his barren wife able to have a child. He had no idea that the moment Arthur was born that his wife would die as a result because of the nature of the spell that Nimueh had used. Because of this, he had dedicated the rest of his life to wiping out all magic. Now his past was finally coming back to haunt him. He was all too willing to die to atone for his mistakes, but he was not going to let his son do so as well.

Even as Uther prepared for his doom and the vault became a battleground, Cara could sense that Merlin was in danger. She had been too weak to feel Morgause's presence before, but now that so much magic was being thrown about she couldn't help but detect it.

"Merlin's in trouble! The sorcerer who caused Tristan to come back is here, and she's trying to kill him!" Cara screamed out.

"Are you sure?" Morgana asked as she feared that Cara was now hallucinating since she was so close to death.

"Yes, I have to help him. I'm the only one who can. She's a High Priestess as well. Only Nimueh can stop her. Merlin isn't ready to face someone like her yet," Cara said in a voice filled with anxiety.

"He's very powerful. He may surprise you," Morgana said confidently as she prepared to talk Cara out of trying to move in her weakened state.

"I have to become Nimueh again. It's the only way to save him," Cara said with tears running down her cheeks.

"Didn't Nimueh want to kill him too? Won't that just make things worse?" Morgana protested.

"I have to hope that some part of me will survive in her and make her save him. It's his only hope now. He's fighting against an entire army of wraiths, Morgana. I can feel them. He'll die unless someone stops them," Cara said.

"You won't be Cara at all anymore, will you?" Morgana asked as she began to cry now too.

"Maybe I will. Maybe I'll have actually learned something from all of this. Who knows?" Cara said with a small smile.

"Good bye, Cara!" Morgana said as Cara began to glow with energy and started to heal her wounds.

"Good bye, Morgana. No matter what happens I want you to know that you were my friend, and I love you. You need to leave now. I may not be too friendly once I'm whole again," Cara warned.

Morgana quickly left as the woman who was once Cara began to glow all over with power and slowly sat up with a smile on her face. Nimueh had returned at last!

Back in the crypt, Merlin had just killed a young undead boy who had attacked him. He would have felt much worse about his actions if it hadn't been obvious that the boy's neck was broken. He had no way of knowing that he had just insured that Mordred would never return in any form now.

"They are too many of them. We're never going to make it," Sophia said as she blasted away at them with her staff with little effect. She was only slowing them down not stopping them.

"I'm sorry that I had to kill your father," Merlin said.

"I'm sorry that he and I both tried to kill Arthur and the rest of you. Friends?" Sophia asked.

"Friends," Merlin said.

As the two of them prepared to meet their doom together, Nimueh suddenly appeared in the vault next to them. She looked at Merlin with an evil smile on her face, and his blood ran cold. He knew in that moment that Cara was gone.

"Cara?" Merlin said even as his hopes were fading.

"She's dead. Only I remain. It was a nice ride while it lasted, Merlin, but surely you always knew that it was all coming to this moment. Now you will die, and Camelot will fall. Nice job, Morgause. You don't realize it, but you just saved my life. I'd like to thank you by helping you tear this kingdom apart! What do you say?" Nimueh asked.

"The more the merrier. It's fitting somehow. It's poetic in a way to have the last two High Priestesses of the Old Religion combining forces to bring Camelot down in one last crippling defeat. I like it," Morgause said with an evil grin.

"Cara, you can't do this! Didn't our time together mean anything to you?" Merlin cried out.

"I already told you, but you won't listen. Cara is dead! I am Nimueh!" Nimueh shouted as she grabbed Merlin up by the neck and held him up off of the ground with one hand.

The dragon had been right. Either he killed Nimueh or she would certainly kill him. Either way, he would lose. He was still going to die no matter what he did because without Cara he might as well already be dead. A part of his soul was going to die with her.

**Next: Nimueh has returned at last! Can even Merlin fight two High Priestesses at once? What will happen to Camelot and Uther? Will anyone survive or will the legend of King Arthur and Merlin end before it can even get started?**


	6. Everything Changes

CHAPTER 6

I do not own Merlin and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

EVERYTHING CHANGES

Nimueh looked at Merlin with pure hatred in her eyes until she saw the sadness in his and the tears flowing down his face. Then her resolve began to weaken. A voice inside of her began to scream at her to leave him alone. A voice that she began to realize was her own.

"What are you waiting for? Kill him!" Morgause shouted impatiently at her.

Nimueh continued to hesitate as an internal war was fought inside of her for control of her very soul. She was torn between the desire to kill Merlin and to kiss him. She had no idea what to do. Everything used to be simple before. Now though things were different.

She realized to her horror that she was still in love with him. Even now she was completely in love with him.

"Kill him!" Morgause shouted again.

Then as she looked in Merlin's fear-filled eyes, she began to smile. Not an evil or a cruel smile. It was a warm one instead. Then she winked at Merlin, and he looked at her in complete surprise.

Nimueh turned to look at Morgause with a hardened look of resolve now on her face as she said, "Morgause, it's time for you to go home."

"What?" Morgause asked in disbelief.

"I said it's time for you to leave. I'm asking you nicely because that's who I am now. I won't ask again," Nimueh said as she gently set Merlin back down on the ground and let go of his neck.

"What are you playing at, Nimueh? Do you want to take the credit for destroying Camelot for yourself?" Morgause asked.

"Camelot is not going to fall today, Morgause. This is my home now, and no one is going to touch it as long as I'm around. Oh, and the name isn't Nimueh anymore. It's Cara," the newly renamed Cara said.

"What's happened to you?" Morgause asked in horror.

Cara looked at Merlin with eyes filled with love as she said, "Something wonderful."

"Destroy them!" Morgause commanded the wraiths.

The wraiths began to attack Merlin, Cara, and Sophia without mercy now. They surrounded the three sorcerers on all sides.

"Cara? Is it really you?" Merlin asked as he began hacking away at the murderous horde around him once again.

"I'm fighting right alongside you now, Merlin. That should be your first clue. Maybe Arthur was right about you," Cara said with a giggle.

"I'm glad that you're still on our side, Cara. For a minute there, I thought that we had lost you," Sophia said.

"So did I," Cara said softly.

Merlin continued to drive the wraiths back with Excalibur as Sophia used her staff to keep the ones around her weakened and off guard. Cara meanwhile kept slowly undoing the spell animating the wraiths one wraith at a time. She was slowly but surely laying all of them back to rest.

"Can you go a little faster with that spell, Cara? I'm getting overwhelmed here!" Merlin complained.

"I'm trying to undo a highly complex spell cast by an expert sorceress, Merlin. Have a little appreciation, will you? Maybe I should have stayed Nimueh after all," Cara said in an aggravated tone.

She instantly regretted her words as she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I'm just irritated by the sheer number of them that's all."

"I know you didn't. It's okay. I shouldn't have been complaining. I'm just worried that they're going to overwhelm us at any minute," Merlin admitted.

"They won't, Merlin. Do you know why?" Cara asked.

"Why?" Merlin asked.

"You've got me. Both of you, grab my hand!" Cara said to Merlin and Sophia.

They both did as she asked as she said, "Will you loan me your powers for a minute?"

They both nodded, and she began to perform a spell that utilized the power of all three of them at once. As she cast the spell, her eyes glowed with power; and the wraiths backed away from her in fear.

As soon as she was finished, a wave of mystic energy radiated out from the three sorcerers in one massive shockwave that knocked all of the wraiths off of their feet. As all of the wraiths weakly struggled to get back up, Cara grinned mischievously as she said, "I used to call that the Ring of Nimueh back in the old days. Gaius and I used to use it together whenever we'd have to face off against some particularly nasty monsters."

"How long will it keep them down for?" Merlin asked as he looked at her with an impressed look on his face.

"Only about fifteen minutes at the most unfortunately. We'd better get to work stopping them as quickly as possible. I can't do that again for at least a few hours," Cara said.

"Too bad it didn't work on me, or you might have actually won here today," Morguase said as she began to attack Cara with bolts of mystic energy.

"The day's not over yet," Cara said as she deflected the bolts with the palm of her hand straight back at Morgause with minimal effort.

"I'm getting jealous. I had no idea that you were this powerful! I'm so glad that I didn't have to fight you for so many reasons," Merlin said.

"You're far more powerful than I am, Merlin. Given time, you'll be able to beat me easily. I'll be the one who's jealous of you someday," Cara said as she deflected yet another of Morgause's attacks.

"That would be great! I mean . . . I didn't mean that in a bad way," Merlin said awkwardly.

"I know," Cara said with a grin.

As she fought with Morgause and kept her busy, Merlin and Sophia destroyed as many wraiths as they could while they were still incapacitated. Cara then saw the Rowan Staff in the middle of the floor. She groaned as she finally realized what was going on.

"You can really tell that I'm out of practice. She's used the Rowan Staff to bring them all to life. I don't need to take them out all at once. All I have to do is destroy that staff, and they'll all go back to rest at once. I'm such an idiot sometimes," Cara said in frustration as she began to run towards the staff.

"No!" Morgause shouted in anger.

She created an immense wall of fire that she sent flying toward Cara as she tried to do her best to keep her back. Cara laughed as she summoned a powerful wind to quickly disperse the fire and put it out within seconds long before it could reach her.

"You'll have to do just a bit better than that, Morgause. I've been at this game longer than you've been alive," Cara said confidently.

"How old are you anyway?" Merlin called out behind her.

"None of your business! That's how old!" Cara said with a grin without looking back as she deflected a fireball back at Morgause that she had thrown at her.

"You're a little touchy about your age, aren't you? If you're going to be that way about it, then you shouldn't be bringing it up," Merlin said as he teased her.

"Keep it up, Merlin, and I'll punch you into next week," Cara said with a smile even as she dodged a massive concentration of mystic bolts that went flying past her that would have killed even her if they had connected.

"What happened to you? No more sweet Cara anymore?" Merlin teased.

"I'm the new and improved Cara, and I don't take any lip from anyone. Unless I'm kissing them of course," Cara said as she pushed Morgause into a wall with a gesture before she could cast another spell.

"Now you've gone and done it. You've made me want to kiss you," Merlin said.

"All in due time, dear. All in due time," Cara said laughing as she now subjected Morgause to a punishing mystic lightning attack that came from both of her hands at once. This powerful attack nearly knocked Morgause out cold before she even had time to catch her breath from having been slammed into the wall.

"Do you two want to be alone?" Sophia said as she began to join in on the banter now.

"Not yet. Right now, I have some wraiths to send back where they came from," Cara said as she finally reached the Rowan Staff at last.

"Merlin, give me your sword. Quickly!" Cara called out even as she watched the still dazed Morgause carefully.

Merlin threw Excalibur to Cara, and she used it to quickly cut the Rowan Staff in half. A burst of energy went out from the staff, and the wraiths quickly fell apart.

"Why are you doing this? You should be helping me," Morgause said as she struggled to stay conscious after the assault that she had just received at Cara's hands.

"I don't want to kill anymore, Morgause. I want to change things from within. This isn't the way," Cara said as she slowly made her way toward Morgause.

"Nothing will change as long as Uther lives and Camelot still stands," Morgause said even as she almost toppled over.

"Go to sleep, Morgause," Cara said in a gentle voice as she gestured at the young woman and cast a sleeping spell.

Morgause fell to the ground with a solid thud and immediately fell asleep. Sophia rushed toward her with her staff and was about to kill her with it when Merlin stopped her.

"No!" Merlin said firmly.

"She'll just cause us more trouble if we let her live," Sophia argued.

"What if I had felt that way about you?" Merlin pointed out.

"She might not be as receptive to you as I was," Sophia countered.

"Merlin's right. We're not going to kill her. She was corrupted just as I was. Only it started with her almost from birth. She's never known anything else. Maybe I could help her even as I was helped," Cara said.

"Don't believe it. She'll never change," Sophia warned.

"I have to try," Cara said in a passionate voice.

"Why do you care so much about her?" Merlin asked.

"I have my reasons, Merlin. Isn't that enough?" Cara asked as she lightly stroked the unconscious Morgause's hair.

"Does she mean something to you?" Merlin asked as he was shocked by her gesture of affection.

"I'll explain it to you when I'm ready. Alright?" Cara said.

"Alright," Merlin said.

"Thank you," Cara said as she gave Merlin a tender kiss.

Then she turned back toward Morgause and quickly said a spell that Merlin had never heard before. He watched as a mystic glow surrounded Morgause for a brief moment before fading away.

"What did you do?" Merlin asked.

"I cast a binding spell on her. It will keep her from using her magic until we can trust her again. At least I hope it will," Cara said.

"We still need to bind her physically," Merlin said.

"We will eventually. Let her sleep peacefully for now," Cara said.

"Is it over then? What about Tristan?" Sophia asked with a look on her face that said she was still bothered by Morgause remaining alive.

"Destroying the Rowan Staff should have stopped him as well unless Morgause used a different spell to bring him back to life. We need to make sure though. What time is it?" Cara asked.

"I think it's time for the fight. I hope Arthur didn't wake up," Merlin said worried.

"Let's go. Sophia, guard Morgause until we come back, and make sure that she doesn't escape," Cara said.

"Don't do anything to her," Merlin added.

"I won't. It goes against my better judgment though," Sophia grumbled.

Merlin and Cara raced back to the Training Grounds just in time to see Uther fighting with Tristan. Apparently the spell had been a different one after all.

"We have to hurry!" Merlin shouted.

As Tristan disarmed Uther and prepared to stab him in the heart with his next move, Merlin quietly cast a spell that knocked the sword out of the wraith's hand. The sword went flying several feet away even as Cara started to say the spell to send him back to rest under her breath.

"You cannot stop me! I don't need a sword to kill," Tristan said as he put his hands around Uther's neck.

"No!" Merlin shouted as he threw Excalibur at Tristan with all of his strength and used his magic to keep it going.

Excalibur embedded itself into Tristan's heart just as the wraith broke Uther's neck. Both Uther and Tristan fell over dead at the same time.

"I tried, Merlin. I just wasn't fast enough," Cara said.

"We both tried. It wasn't your fault, Cara," Merlin said.

"I just didn't want you to think that I let him die on purpose. I was going to leave my past with him behind me," Cara said.

"I know. I know it wasn't on purpose," Merlin said as he put his arm around her and gave her a gentle kiss.

Sir Leon came running up to Merlin and said, "It's alright, Merlin. We all know that you tried. At least the magic finally wore off once he killed the king. Arthur is safe now at least just as the king wanted. Someone will have to go inform Arthur that he is the king now."

"I'll do it. Maybe it'll be a little easier to take coming from me," Merlin said as he went to pull Excalibur out of Tristan's body.

He didn't want the others to discover that Arthur was still asleep and start asking questions about what had happened to him just yet. He wasn't sure what he was going to say to Arthur about Morgause. He also hadn't decided how to keep Morgause hidden from Arthur yet either if they were going to keep her here. He could only handle one problem at a time.

Merlin went to see if Arthur and Gaius were awake yet, and Cara went back to the vault to find Morgause awake and fighting in hand to hand combat with Sophia. Sophia's staff had been knocked across the room beyond her reach Cara noticed as soon as she entered the area.

"Morgause, stop!" Cara shouted.

"How could you turn against me like this? You've bound my magic. You've betrayed me!" Morgause said in a hurt voice.

"I'm trying to help you, Morgause. Maybe one day you'll realize that and forgive me," Cara said.

"That's never going to happen. Not now," Morgause said coldly.

"Help me, Cara. She's stronger than I am. I can barely hold her," Sophia said in exasperation.

"Cara? So that's what you're going by now? Are you too ashamed to use the name Nimueh anymore? You should be. You've betrayed everything that you ever stood for," Morgause said.

"No, I betrayed everything that I ever stood for a long time ago, Morgause. Now I'm finally finding myself again at last. I'm sorry for this too," Cara said as she gestured towards Morgause.

"No! Please let me go, M-," Morgause shouted before passing out again before she could finish her sentence.

Sophia wondered what she was going to say at the end of that sentence. Exactly who was Nimueh to Morgause anyway?

Cara spoke the words of some ancient spell that Sophia didn't recognize, and mystic chains appeared of thin air and bound Morgause's arms and legs together. Sophia looked on in amazement as Cara started to cry as she looked down at Morgause's unconscious form.

"I'm so sorry," Cara said in a low voice.

As Sophia retrieved her staff, she began to wonder now more than ever just how the two women were linked together. There was something that Cara wasn't telling them, and she was going to find out what that was.

Cara and Sophia moved Morgause into Sophia's quarters for now, and then the two sorceresses joined Merlin as he still futilely tried to wake Arthur and Gaius up. Whatever spell that Morgause had used still hadn't worn off yet.

"Someone is going to want to come and talk to Arthur soon now that he's the King. I have to wake him up," Merlin said.

Morgana came rushing up to them as she said, "What happened, Merlin? I've just heard that Uther is dead. Is Arthur alright?"

Cara began to smile at Morgana now in a way that she never had before. To Merlin, it seemed like Cara was seeing her for the first time now. He wondered just what was going on with Cara lately besides the obvious of course.

"Cara? You're okay?" Morgana asked with joy as she finally noticed her standing next to Merlin.

"Yes, I'm fine. It worked, Morgana," Cara said as she hugged Morgana tightly surprising her.

"I'm glad, Cara. What about Arthur and Gaius? What's wrong with them?" Morgana said as she saw them both lying there fast asleep.

"They were both put to sleep with a powerful spell," Merlin said.

"We don't know how to wake them up," Sophia said.

"This is terrible. Uther is dead, and Arthur is under a spell. Who's going to run Camelot now?" Morgana asked.

"Hopefully it won't be a problem that we'll have to solve. Maybe I can wake him up," Cara said.

She cast a spell to wake Arthur and Gaius up, but it had no effect. Cara frowned and tried another spell and then another. Still there was no success. Merlin tried several spells of his own to wake them up, and he too failed. Sophia tried to use Sidhe magic, but she couldn't rouse them either.

"I'll have to ask the dragon," Merlin blurted out without thinking.

"Dragon?" Cara asked.

"There's a dragon chained up underneath Camelot. He was imprisoned there by Uther," Merlin explained.

"Kilgarrah's still alive!" Cara said with joy.

"You know him?" Merlin asked.

"Oh, yes. From long ago. If anyone will know how to undo the spell, he will. So that's where you got that sword from. I thought I sensed something familiar about it," Cara said.

"Let's go and talk to him together. I can reintroduce you to him," Merlin said.

"I'll stay here and watch over Arthur and Gaius if it's all the same to you. What do I do if someone wants to talk to Arthur?" Morgana asked.

"Just tell them that he's still grieving. Try to stall them as long as you can," Merlin said.

"I'm going too. It will be an honor to meet the Great Dragon," Sophia said.

The three sorcerers went down to meet with Kilgarrah, and the Great Dragon looked at Cara and Sophia in surprise and suspicion. He had obviously not expected Merlin to bring anyone else.

"Hello, Nimueh," Kilgarrah said.

"Hello, Kilgarrah. It's been a long time. I'm glad that you're still alive. I thought that Uther had killed you when I heard that he captured you," Cara said.

"It is an honor to meet you, O Great and Noble Dragon!" Sophia said as she curtseyed to him.

Kilgarrah laughed as he said, "I like her, Merlin. She can come with you any time from now on. She will continue to become a close friend to you in the future or at least what I can now see of it. As of late, my vision of the future keeps shifting constantly so that now even I am not sure of what will come with absolute certainty."

"I came to ask you how we can wake up Arthur and Gaius from Morgause's spell. Camelot will need an heir now that Uther is dead," Merlin said.

"I'm surprised that you haven't suggested making Morgana the new heir yet, Nimueh," Kilgarrah said.

"Why would Morgana be the heir? She's not royalty," Merlin asked confused.

Kilgarrah said nothing. He and Cara briefly shared a glance that told Merlin that Cara was keeping yet another secret from him.

"The sleeping spell that Morgause used is very powerful. It can only be removed by finding the vessel that was used to give it strength. You must persuade Morgause to tell you where the vessel is and take the spell off of it or else you will have to kill the vessel in order to break the spell. Otherwise, Arthur will sleep until the end of time," Kilgarrah said.

"That's just great. I'm sure Morgause will tell us everything. She's been so cooperative with us so far," Merlin said sarcastically.

"If you do not break the spell soon, Camelot will descend into chaos with no one to lead it. Unless of course, Nimueh has someone in mind," Kilgarrah said.

"My name is Cara now, and I have nothing to do with what Morgause did," Cara said.

"Yes, I can see that now. You actually have decided to change. You have done the impossible, Merlin. You have reclaimed Nimueh's heart from darkness. You are a more powerful agent of change than even I ever expected. Maybe you will be able to do the same with Morgause or at least maybe her mother will," Kilgarrah said.

"Her mother? Who is that? Where can I find her?" Merlin asked.

"Hopefully she will contact you and very soon if she values the safety of this kingdom. It will only be a matter of time before it descends into chaos in the state that it is in now," Kilgarrah said as he shared yet another long glance with Cara once again.

Cara knew that she had to persuade Morgause to break her spell, or she would have to tell Morgana the full truth about who her father really was. She hoped that it would not come to that. She didn't want to explain how she knew what she knew or what her connection was to Morgana and Morgause at least not yet anyway. She wanted to tell everyone slowly and gently so as to avoid any unnecessary pain.

She hoped that she would still get that chance.

**Next: Will Morgause break her spell or will Cara be forced to tell Morgana her secret? What is her secret anyway? There is much more to it than you might think. Will Arthur and Gaius ever wake up?**


	7. A New Reign Begins

CHAPTER 7

I do not own Merlin and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

A NEW REIGN BEGINS

Cara insisted on seeing Morgause alone while the others waited outside. She had to try one last time to talk her into waking Arthur and Gaius up.

Morgause was already awake, and she sneered at her as soon as she entered the room. She already knew what Cara wanted.

"Hello, Mother. Or has our relationship changed too along with your name?" Morgause spat out in anger.

"No, never! I'll always love you. You and your sister," Cara said.

"Have you even told Morgana yet?" Morgause asked.

"No, not yet. I've kind of been busy dealing with you," Cara said with a smile.

"Do you think smiling at me is going to wear down my resolve? I'm not going to help you. Camelot is finished. Soon the Old Religion will be restored to dominance throughout Albion, and no one will stop it this time," Morgause said.

"I'm so sorry, Morgause. This isn't you. Not really. You know that, don't you? You've been corrupted by a lifetime's worth of dark magic. No one's ever even seen the real you. Don't you think that it's way past time that they did?" Cara asked in a sad voice.

"You're wrong. This is the real me, mother, and Nimueh is the real you. You need to fight the brainwashing that these people have given you, and come back to me. Please," Morgause said as she finally showed a flicker of emotion.

"You do love me, don't you?" Cara asked as she lovingly stroked Morgause's face.

"Of course I do. I just want to free you from their control," Morgause said.

"You don't understand. I'm not under anyone's control. Not anymore. This is who I was long ago before you were born. I'm free from the darkness that once possessed me now. You could be too. You have to fight it, Morgause," Cara said.

"I've lost you, haven't I?" Morgause asked in a low voice.

Cara saw that it was useless to try to talk to her. She was too far gone to be reasoned with. There was only one last thing to do now.

"This may hurt if you fight it, Morgause. Let it happen," Cara said.

"What are you talking about? What are you going to do?" Morgause asked in sudden alarm.

Cara said nothing. She began to glow with all of the power that she could command as she chanted a spell that was old when Atlantis sank. The power flowing into her body increased more and more by the second until she could barely contain it. Then as she finally finished the spell, all of that energy flowed into Morgause at once.

Morgause screamed as Cara's spell began to drive the influence of all of the dark magic that she had ever cast out of her mind and soul. Morgause could already feel herself changing even as she tried to fight the spell's effects.

"What are you doing? Stop it! Stop it!" Morgause said in a terrified voice.

"It's going to be okay. Don't be afraid," Cara said in an emotional voice as she did her best to calm her daughter down and reassure her.

"Why are you changing me? What was wrong with me?" Morgause asked with a hurt and betrayed tone in her voice.

"You were trying to kill everyone in this kingdom, Morgause. Some part of you has to know that was wrong. You'll understand why I'm doing this soon at least I hope so," Cara said.

"Please stop it! Please! It hurts! I'll tell you whatever you want to know. Just stop!" Morgause begged.

Cara started to cry as seeing her daughter in so much pain and misery ripped her soul apart. She almost broke the spell right then and there, but she knew that she couldn't. She knew that this was her one chance to reclaim her daughter. She had to finish it. No matter how much pain it caused both of them.

Merlin burst into the room then after he couldn't stand to hear the screaming anymore. He had been afraid that something was happening to Cara. He watched in fascination as Morgause continued to fight the spell all of the way even as it purged the darkness from her.

Finally Morgause passed out, and the glow surrounding her faded. Cara raced to her side and felt for a pulse. She smiled as she felt Morgause's heart continuing to beat strongly.

"Is she alright?" Merlin asked.

"She's going to be better than alright if this spell worked," Cara said as she began to shake all over.

"What's wrong with you?" Merlin asked in alarm.

"I just purged a lifetime's worth of darkness from Morgause in a matter of minutes, Merlin. That powerful of a spell took a lot out of me. It's only just now starting to hit me," Cara said in an ever weakening voice.

Merlin caught Cara as she finally collapsed in his arms. Even as Cara passed out, Morgause woke up. Her powers had now been restored to her along with her true nature. It was her mother's gift to her before she passed out.

"Cara!" Merlin said in concern. He was so worried about Cara that he didn't even register Morgause's return to consciousness.

"She'll be fine. She just has to rest," Morgause said to Merlin with a warm smile.

Merlin looked at her in alarm as she used her magic to finally free herself from the chains around her. He was prepared for anything but what happened next as Morgause quickly walked up to them and kissed the unconscious Cara on the cheek.

Merlin looked at her in complete astonishment as she began to laugh at him in a good-natured way. She continued to smile as she said, "I see she didn't tell you either. She's my mother."

"What?!" Merlin asked with a look of shock on his face.

"Don't look like that. I'm sure that she was going to tell you everything eventually. It's not like you don't have any secrets, Merlin. Or does Arthur know about your magic yet?" Morgause said.

Merlin had to admit that she had him there. He nodded at her as he said, "Touché. So are you supposed to be the good Morgause now?"

"About as good as I'll ever be. I'm not out to kill you and the others anymore if that's what you're worried about. I'll even free Arthur and Gaius for you on one condition," Morgause said.

"And that is?" Merlin asked.

"You do your best to get Arthur to lift the ban on magic in Camelot. My views on that haven't changed," Morgause said.

"I agree. I'll probably have to do it slowly though," Merlin said.

"Fine. Whatever it takes as long as we finally get things to change around here," Morgause said.

"So how do we break the spell?" Merlin asked.

"You can leave Mother here. Come with me. I'm going to take you to the vessel who is keeping the spell going. I'll have to take the spell off of her first in order to free the others from its effects," Morgause said.

Merlin gently laid Cara down on the bed nearby, and then he hesitantly took Morgause's hand. Morgause teleported the two of them out of Camelot and inside of a nearby cave.

Merlin looked on the ground of the cave in surprise as he saw a young woman lying there in a deep sleep just like Arthur and Gaius. He began to feel sleepier and sleepier himself the closer that he got to her. He knew right away that she was the vessel and the source of the sleeping spell.

"I'm going to have to remove the spell now, or you'll fall over at any minute standing this close to Freya I'm afraid," Morgause said.

Her eyes glowed with energy as she undid her spell. The young woman woke up immediately, and then began to back away from them in fear.

"Freya, I'm not going to hurt you. I know it will be hard for you to believe considering what I've done in the past but I've changed," Morgause said in a kind voice.

Merlin looked at her with an open mouth. She was suddenly acting like a completely different person now. Oddly enough she reminded him of Morgana. She was now kind and loving just like her.

"Stay away," Freya said as she cowered in fear from both of them.

"Who is she?" Merlin asked.

"Her name is Freya. She's a druid who accidentally killed a sorceress' son while protecting herself from him. The sorceress cursed Freya because of this, and now she becomes a horrible creature called a Bastet every night. I freed her from a horrible man who had imprisoned her and promised to lift her curse. I used her as the vessel for my spell instead. I had to use someone, and Freya was nearby at the time. I knew that no one would miss her. I'm sorry, Freya," Morgause said.

"Leave me alone. Just let me go," Freya said as she shook in fear.

"It's okay. I won't hurt you. Maybe I really can help you after all. I'll certainly try," Morgause said as she began to walk towards the frightened girl.

"No. Please don't!" Freya shouted.

When Morgause reached her, she put her arms around her and gave her a gentle hug. Freya's eyes went wide in surprise, and Merlin could see that she was beginning to visibly calm down now.

"I promise you that we're not going to hurt you. It's okay," Morgause said in a gentle voice.

"We're both going to try to help you," Merlin promised.

"Thank you," Freya said.

"Both of you hold my hand," Morgause said.

As both of them did as she requested, she teleported all of them back to Sophia's room. They arrived to see Cara awake and smiling at them.

"It worked!" Cara said with joy as she embraced Morgause.

"Yes, it did. Thank you! I'm so sorry for the way that I acted before," Morgause said with a shamed look on her face.

"It wasn't your fault. Not really. It was mine. I should never have asked Gaius to give you to the High Priestesses. I was so far gone under the influence of dark magic by that point that I was actually convinced that I was doing you a favor. Also I was trying to save you from Uther's purge. He found out that you were mine and was going to kill you because he knew that you would have magic one day. I faked your death and had Gaius smuggle you out of Camelot as soon as you were born. I swore him to secrecy about you, and he never told anyone that you were still alive. It just shows how good a friend that he always was to me," Cara explained.

"Why didn't he kill Morgana then? Surely she has magic too," Morgause said.

Cara looked at Merlin as she said, "Morgana is my daughter as well, Merlin. She was a product of an affair that I had with Uther. Uther is her father."

Morgause was completely taken back by this as she said, "So Morgana is a part of the royal family. That makes her Arthur's sister as well as mine."

They all turned to hear a gasp behind them as they saw a very shocked Morgana listening to them from the doorway along with a now awake Arthur and Gaius.

"Morgana, I didn't want you to find out this way," Cara said softly.

"You're my mother?" Morgana asked as she looked at her as if she thought that this was all a dream.

"Yes. I am Vivienne or at least that's what I called myself back then anyway," Cara said as she smiled at her.

"You look so young though," Morgana said in disbelief.

"You can thank magic for that. It can do wonders to halt the aging process," Cara said.

"So you admit to having magic?" Arthur asked as he looked at her with a betrayed look on his face.

"Yes but I no longer use it for evil. It can be used to perform good deeds as well as bad you know. Are you going to try to kill me now, Arthur?" Cara asked.

"No!" Morgana yelled at Arthur.

"Arthur, she just saved both of your lives using her magic. She freed Morgause from the hold that dark magic had on her, and Morgause then let you both go from her sleeping spell. That would have never happened without Cara's magic. You would have stayed asleep for the rest of your lives," Merlin said as he defended her.

Arthur looked conflicted as he knew that what Merlin was saying was true. He wasn't sure what to do. He still thought of Cara as a friend and didn't really want to harm her. The law was the law though. All those who practiced magic in Camelot had to die.

"Arthur, if you kill her just for having magic then you will have to kill me too. I have magic," Morgana admitted.

Arthur looked at her in surprise even as he said, "I could never hurt you. I've always felt a deep connection to you all of my life. Now I finally know why."

"So you believe me?" Cara asked.

"I have to because my heart tells me that it's the truth. It explains everything about how I've always felt about her. I've always know that she was much more than a friend to me," Arthur admitted.

"I've always felt the same way," Morgana said.

The two of them embraced then, and Merlin knew that Arthur was not going to kill either his sister or Cara at that point. He almost told Arthur the truth about himself right then and there, but fear of his reaction to it made him hesitate and think better of it.

"I'm not going to kill anyone. Let's just agree not to talk about it. None of you should display your powers out in the open though. I can't guarantee anyone's safety if that were to happen," Arthur said firmly.

Merlin could see that Arthur still was nowhere close to lifting the ban yet. At least he was willing to look the other way though when it came to people that he cared about. He just hoped that Arthur didn't change his mind about that later. Suddenly he was glad that he hadn't revealed his secret to him.

"Are you sure that she's on our side now?" Arthur asked Cara about Morgause.

"Yes, she's completely herself now. She would never seek to harm you or Camelot," Cara reassured him.

"That is the truth, Sire. I would certainly never do anything to harm my own sister," Morgause said as she smiled at Morgana.

"You can stay here then as long as you no longer try to attack us. If I find that you haven't changed though, then I won't be so merciful," Arthur promised.

"I understand, Sire," Morgause said.

"Thank you, Arthur," Merlin said.

"I didn't do it for you, Merlin. I did it for Morgana. I can't exactly start bonding with her after I just killed her mother and sister, can I?" Arthur asked.

"I just wanted to thank you anyway. Cara means everything to me," Merlin said.

Cara smiled at him as she took his hand while Arthur said, "I can see that. What I can't see is what she sees in you. You could do so much better, Cara."

"Somehow I doubt that, Sire," Cara said as she smiled at Merlin.

"I'm starting to think that Merlin has magic now too. He must in order to get someone like you to fall for him," Arthur joked.

"He's put a different kind of spell on me, Arthur. Magic had nothing to do with it though," Cara said.

"I just can't understand it," Arthur said as he shook his head.

"Are you going to tell the people who I really am then?" Morgana asked Arthur hesitantly.

"Yes. I want them to know. I'd never try to hide it, Morgana. I'm proud to have you as my sister," Arthur said.

"Thank you," Morgana said happily as she embraced him again.

"Let's go. I'm sure the people have been kept waiting long enough. It's time for them to hear from their new King," Arthur said.

Then he looked at Morgana with a serious expression on his face as he said, "Do you want to be called the Queen? You have every right to be called that now."

"I'm not your wife though. You are the King now, and only your wife should be called the Queen. How about we just call me Princess Morgana instead? I kind of like that actually," Morgana said with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Arthur asked.

"Yes," Morgana said firmly.

Arthur nodded as she smiled at her. Then he took her hand as he led her out of the room. He was going to make a speech where he accepted the duty of being the King, and then he was going to introduce and formally recognize Morgana as his sister.

"I'm glad that's over with. So where is Morgause going to be staying and who is this?" Gaius said as he looked at Freya.

"Her name is Freya, Gaius. She was the vessel who Morgause used to put you and Arthur to sleep. She's also cursed. At night, she becomes a Bastet," Merlin said.

"It's a good thing that you didn't tell Arthur that. We need to put her somewhere where she cannot escape tonight," Gaius said.

"She and Morgause can both stay in my room until we find a better place for them," Sophia offered.

"You don't understand. She will become extremely dangerous once she changes. No one will be able to stop her," Gaius said.

"I can. I think that I can keep the worst effects of her curse at bay with an old spell I know that will give her control of herself even as the Bastet until I can find a way to remove it entirely," Cara said.

Gaius looked at her in surprise for a moment then as he realized for the first time now that she had changed since the last time that he had seen her. He now knew that she was completely Nimueh once again.

"Nimueh?" Gaius asked.

"Yes, Gaius. I'm back now, but I still have Cara's heart and soul. That's why I'm still calling myself that. I'm more Cara than Nimueh now," Cara said.

"You should still call yourself Nimueh as far as I'm concerned because you're the Nimueh that I grew up with once again. I'm so glad to have you back," Gaius said as he embraced her.

"It's good to be back. I'm so sorry, Gaius. For everything," Cara said.

"It's alright, Nimueh. I forgave you a long time ago," Gaius said as he kissed her cheek.

She winced at his use of the name Nimueh because it reminded her of things she wanted to forget, but she let it go without comment. If he wanted to call her that, she wouldn't try to stop him. She certainly wasn't fond of that name anymore though.

Long before night approached, Cara kept her word and cast a spell that gave Freya control over the Bastet once she changed. She wouldn't be able to speak when she changed, but her mind would still be firmly in control. She promised herself that she would do everything that she could to break the curse on her completely someday.

After Arthur proclaimed Morgana his sister and the Princess of Camelot, the people cheered and eagerly accepted her much to her relief. She was grateful that she wasn't being snubbed or looked down upon. Arthur knew that it was because the people all loved Morgana so much already. She had been beloved by them since she was a child because she had always been kind to them and tried to help them with their problems whenever she could.

After Arthur's acceptance speech of his Kingship was finished, Sophia looked at Arthur with a lustful gaze as she said to Merlin, "Camelot still needs a Queen, doesn't it?"

"Don't tell me that you're falling for Arthur," Merlin said with a sigh.

"Maybe. He's not bad looking and now he's a King. What's not to like?" Sophia said with a wide grin.

"How about his personality? He's arrogant, conceited, and a bully. The sad thing is that those are his good qualities," Merlin said even as he noticed that Morgause was suddenly giving Sophia a dirty look for some reason.

"You're just jealous, Merlin," Sophia said with a good-natured grin on her face.

"I am not. Why would I be jealous of Arthur? Arthur's the last person that I'd ever be jealous of," Merlin said.

Cara laughed at him as she said, "Stop acting, Merlin. I know the truth. You love him like a brother, and you know it."

"He's more like an extremely annoying step-brother to me actually," Merlin said with a grin.

"I'll remember to tell him that you said that once I'm the Queen," Sophia said with a giggle as she kissed Merlin's cheek.

Cara was surprised to find that this gesture of affection didn't make her jealous in the slightest now. It was amazing how close that Sophia had become to both of them. She had quickly become not just a friend but almost like a sister to them both now.

Merlin's smile left his face then as he suddenly gave Cara a serious look.

"Please tell me that there are no more secrets that you're keeping from me, Cara. I don't want us to ever keep secrets from each other," Merlin said.

"There's just one. It's more to do with Arthur than us though. I'll need to tell Arthur the truth about his birth someday. I can only hope that he'll forgive me for my role in what happened to his mother," Cara said.

"No more secrets, Cara. Tell me what happened," Merlin said.

After she told him and ended the story in tears, Merlin said, "It wasn't you. You didn't kill her, Cara."

"Yes, I did. I was corrupted by darkness, but it was still me. I'll always feel sorry for that. I'll have to tell Arthur soon," Cara said.

"You must never do that, Nimueh. Uther never wanted him to know," Gaius said.

"Uther's dead, and Arthur deserves to know the truth," Cara said.

"What if that truth leads him to kill you and to further reinforce the ban on magic though?" Morgause said.

"I have to take that chance. Soon I will tell him everything," Cara said firmly.

"I only hope that won't be the day that Arthur turns against magic forever," Merlin said.

**Next: As Merlin takes Cara to meet his mother, they both wind up meeting his long lost father as well. Will Merlin's father still die or will things take a different turn this time around? **


	8. The Dragonlord's Return

CHAPTER 8

I do not own Merlin and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE DRAGONLORD'S RETURN

Merlin and Nimueh had just started on the way to Merlin's childhood home, Ealdor, to visit his mother when they were quickly joined by Sophia. Sophia came riding up to join them in a hurry and looked as if she were out of breath.

"What are you doing here?" Merlin asked.

"I know. I know. You didn't invite me, and the whole trip has nothing to do with me. I'm not trying to impose. I came because Morgana asked me to. She said that she felt like that you might need me. She didn't say why. She just kept insisting that I go with you for some reason so I came as fast as I could before you rode too far away. I was afraid that I wasn't going to find you. I have no idea where Ealdor is after all," Sophia said.

"It's alright. I'll be glad to have you come along. I know my mother will love you. She always likes it when I bring my friends with me. Plus she likes to pump them for information about how I'm doing. I wonder why Morgana was so insistent that you come along," Merlin asked.

"I honestly don't know. She looked very worried though so I went," Sophia said.

"She's had another dream," Cara said.

"Do you think so? I thought that your potion was keeping her from doing that anymore," Merlin said.

"You don't understand. Her powers are getting stronger and stronger now. My potion won't help her forever. She just keeps needing more and more of it every week. Soon it won't help her at all. She'll have to learn how to control her magic in order to keep her dreams at bay. I'm going to have to teach her. I'll help teach you too along the way. Don't get me wrong. You're very good, and you're learning more and more by the day. You can still learn a trick or two from this old girl though that you won't pick up from that magic book," Cara said with a warm smile.

"You're not old to me," Merlin said as he kissed her.

"I am though. My magic has kept me young, but I'm actually just as old as Gaius. Why I'm old enough to be your . . . ," Cara said before trailing off in embarrassment.

"Yeah, let's not go there. I already feel strange enough thinking about how I could wind up being Morgana's step-father," Merlin said.

Cara smiled with a wide grin as she said, "You're awfully presumptive, aren't you? You've already gotten us married. You're so convinced that I'm going to settle down with you, aren't you?"

"Well, I just thought that maybe someday it might happen. I'm sorry. I just couldn't help thinking about it," Merlin said.

Cara kissed him as she said, "Don't be sorry. I've thought about it too. A lot actually. I'm not sure if we've even gotten to that point yet in our relationship where we could ever be sure that would we even want to get married or not, but I have thought about it."

Merlin smiled at her as he said, "I guess it is a bit early. It's just that you're the first woman that I've ever found that I would even consider marrying. You're that special to me."

"You're special to me too. You're the first man that I've loved in a very long time. I wasn't sure that I was even capable of love anymore. I'm so glad that I was wrong," Cara said as she kissed Merlin again.

Sophia smiled at them as they continued to kiss one another. She had become very fond of both of them. They had become just like siblings to her. It was so strange how she had gone from being mortal enemies with them to being one of their best friends in the course of just a few weeks.

She was surprised over how much that she was changing. She actually cared about these humans now and was becoming friends with more of them each day. Not only did she consider these two her family, but she was also beginning to bond with Gaius, Morgause, and Freya as well.

She was even falling in love. With Arthur. That was the ultimate irony. She had come here to kill Arthur and had fallen in love with him instead. Her father would probably have a fit if he could see her now.

She wouldn't change back to who she was now even if she could though. She liked who she was becoming, and she wanted to be this way. She knew that she would do anything to help Merlin and Cara. That's why she went flying after them when Morgana had looked so worried about them.

"What are you so deep in thought about?" Cara asked Sophia.

"I was just thinking of how much the two of you have come to mean to me now. I love both of you," Sophia said honestly.

"We feel the same way about you believe me," Cara said warmly.

"You're like the sister that I never had. I always wanted a brother or a sister," Merlin said.

"Thank you," Sophia said as she smiled at him.

The three friends rode on as they continued to converse happily with each other for several hours until they finally came to Ealdor at last. As soon as they entered, they heard a voice call out, "Merlin!"

Merlin smiled as he turned to see his mother walking toward him. He eagerly dismounted his horse and hugged her. It had been a while since he had last seen her. In fact, he hadn't seen her since before Cara had entered his life.

Hunith looked at the two women with Merlin and asked, "Is one of these women your girlfriend I hope?"

Merlin smiled as he said, "Yes. Mother, meet Cara."

Cara dismounted and the two women embraced as she said, "It's so nice to meet you at last. Merlin's always talking about you. You're even lovelier than he told me that you were."

"You don't have to lie to get on my good side, dear. Just putting that smile on Merlin's face is enough for me. I've never seen him this happy before. I knew right away that one of you had to be his girlfriend the minute that I saw the look on his face." Hunith said.

Sophia cleared her throat impatiently, and Merlin said, "Mother, this is Sophia. She's become a very good friend of mine."

"You've certainly been doing well for yourself in Camelot, Merlin, to have so many pretty girls in your life all of a sudden," Hunith said with a grin.

"Mother!" Merlin said as his face turned red with embarrassment.

"I don't think of him that way. We're just friends. That's more Cara's thing. The two of them wouldn't stop kissing the whole way here," Sophia said.

"Really?" Hunith said as her smile became even wider.

Merlin and Cara's faces meanwhile both blushed in embarrassment, and Hunith laughed at them in amusement. She remembered when she had acted that way once about Merlin's father. That seemed like such a long time ago now.

"Is something wrong?" Merlin asked as Hunith's face suddenly became so sad.

Hunith's smile immediately returned as she said, "No. I'm fine. I was just thinking about your father. That's all. It's times like this that I miss him the most."

"What happened to him?" Sophia asked.

Cara glared at her for asking such a personal question. Sophia just looked at her with a puzzled expression. What had she done wrong? Even now, she still hadn't gotten the hang of being human yet. She would have to ask Cara about it later and learn from her mistake.

As Hunith remained silent, Sophia quickly said, "I'm sorry if I said something wrong. I'm still learning how to be human."

"What?" Hunith asked in confusion.

"Sophia's a Sidhe who was made into a human. She's a very nice Sidhe though so you don't have to worry about her," Merlin explained.

Hunith looked at Sophia in amazement as she said, "I never would have known. You act human enough to me, Sophia. I wouldn't tell anyone else here who you are though. They probably wouldn't take too well to it. They're not exactly big fans of magic here."

"Anyone who's even just the slightest bit different is made to instantly feel out of place here. They aren't exactly welcomed with open arms," Merlin said with a trace of bitterness in his voice.

"They really wouldn't like me then," Cara said.

"What do you mean?" Hunith asked.

Cara leaned forward and whispered into her ear, "I'm Nimueh."

Hunith reacted with shock as Merlin immediately tried to do damage control. He put a reassuring arm around his mother as he said, "She's not who she was though. She's changed. She's become a good person now."

Hunith still didn't look very reassured as she looked at Cara with a disturbed look on her face. Now she was suddenly worried about Merlin as she remembered all of the stories that Gaius had told her about Nimueh over the years. Most of them weren't good.

"I swear to you that I would never do anything to harm your son," Cara said with a solemn expression on her face.

Hunith studied Cara's face and looked deeply into her eyes. She could see the love in them, and she knew that it was real. She smiled as she said, "I can see that. You love him with all of your heart, don't you?"

"Yes," Cara said in a voice filled with emotion. It was just one word but it successfully conveyed to Merlin's mother exactly how she felt about him.

"Welcome to the family, Cara," Hunith said.

"We're not getting married," Merlin said with a sigh.

"Not yet," Hunith said with a grin.

"I see where you get your sense of humor from now, Merlin," Cara said as she smiled in relief.

"Is everything fine here? Are you doing alright?" Merlin asked Hunith.

"Oh, yes. Everything's just the same as it's always been," Hunith said.

"That boring, huh?" Merlin asked with a mischievous smile.

"Merlin, you're terrible," Hunith said as she laughed at him.

"It's true though. This place is just dull. Their main way of having fun around here is to watch each other sleep," Merlin joked.

Cara and Sophia both burst out laughing as Hunith shook her head at him while trying not to laugh herself.

"Merlin always did have a healthy sense of humor. It got him into a lot of trouble growing up though unfortunately," Hunith said.

"I see some things never change then. He's still getting into trouble by making jokes at Arthur's expense. If Arthur didn't love him so much, he'd have had executed a long time ago," Cara said.

"You make fun of Arthur?" Hunith asked in surprise.

"Constantly. He never stops. It just shows how patient and tolerant that Arthur is that he puts up with it," Sophia said.

"Patient and tolerant? Arthur? He's always punishing me by making me do extra work all of the time whenever I do or say something that he doesn't like," Merlin complained.

"Why don't you just stop doing that then?" Hunith asked.

"It's just too much fun. He makes it so easy," Merlin admitted with a huge smile.

"Stop that, Merlin. He's not that bad and you know it," Sophia said.

Before Merlin could respond with yet another snarky remark, Lancelot came out of nowhere as he rode toward them at a furious pace. He quickly came to a stop as he said, "Merlin, Camelot's under attack. There are dozens of Wyverns attacking the entire kingdom at this very moment. They came almost as soon as you left. Gaius said that the only way that we can stop them is by finding a Dragonlord to control them."

Hunith gasped as she realized why Gaius had sent Lancelot here. He had sent him to the wrong place though. She hadn't heard from Balinor since before Merlin was born. She had no idea where he was. He had gone into hiding when Uther started his purge of all magic users. She had never even gotten to tell him about Merlin.

"What about Morgause? Surely she could stop them," Cara said.

Lancelot looked away without speaking. Cara became extremely upset as she asked, "What's happened to her?"

"A strange woman appeared as soon as the Wyverns did. It seems that she sent them. She tried to attack Arthur, and Morgause got in the way. Morgause managed to drive her away, but not before she was put under some kind of spell. She's been turned into stone," Lancelot said in a sad voice.

Cara began to glow with power as she became furious. Then she remembered where she was and quickly stopped. She looked to see if anyone had noticed her as Merlin whispered, "You only glowed for a minute. No one saw but us."

Judging by the depth of Cara's reaction, Hunith knew that Morgause must be her daughter. Her heart immediately went out to her, and she hoped that the spell could be undone.

"Why did Gaius send you here? I don't know anything about any Dragonlords," Merlin said.

"He said that he wanted you to find one. He knows of one who survived the Great Purge and who may still be alive. He gave me his last known location so that you could find him and bring him back to Camelot as soon as possible," Lancelot said.

As Lancelot told Merlin the Dragonlord's last known location, Hunith said, "Did he say what this man's name was?"

"Balinor," Lancelot said.

Merlin could tell by the reaction on his mother's face that she knew the man in question.

"Who is he?" Merlin asked her.

"Merlin, Balinor is your father. He had to leave before you were born because Uther sent knights after him to kill him," Hunith said.

"Now I see why Gaius sent you to me," Merlin said to Lancelot as he looked at his mother in shock and disbelief.

"I don't know where he is or I would tell you," Hunith said.

"We have to find him quickly or Camelot is doomed," Lancelot said.

They all left Hunith behind then as they searched the area where Balinor had last been known to live. They had no luck finding any trace of him though until they came across a man who made the mistake of trying to rob them. Needless to say the unlucky man soon found out why you didn't tangle with a group that included three sorcerers and a Knight of Camelot.

As Cara wound up holding him up in the air by the throat with her eyes glowing with magic and a very angry expression on her face, the terrified man shouted, "Please let me go! I'll do anything. Just don't kill me!"

"Do you know where a man named Balinor is?" Cara demanded.

"I may have heard of him before. How much is it worth to you?" the man said.

"How much is your life worth to you?" Sophia said as she tried not to smile.

The man looked at Cara's angry expression and said in a shaking voice, "He's in a cave not too far from here. He probably won't have anything to do with you though. He hates everyone."

"You'd better be telling me the truth or I'll find you," Cara said.

"I'm being honest. I promise," the man said terrified.

Cara let him go, and he ran for his life. Merlin idly wondered if she had singlehandedly turned him away from a life of crime in one move. Having been on the receiving end of Cara's anger before, he knew just how sobering an experience that it could be.

Cara began to shake all over as she said, "It was way too easy for me to revert back to that persona. I was afraid that I was actually going to kill him."

"No, you weren't. I could see it in your eyes. You're still you. You're just an angry, worried mother trying to help her daughter. No one could blame you for that," Merlin said.

"Thank you," Cara said as she gave him a tender kiss in appreciation for his words.

They went straight to the location that the frightened man had given them and did indeed find a cave there. They searched the cave thoroughly and found plenty of signs that someone had been living there, but they couldn't find Balinor anywhere. Merlin wondered if he had already moved on to somewhere else. If so, they might never find him.

"Maybe I could find him with a Psychometry spell," Cara said.

"Psychometry?" Lancelot asked.

"It's where you can read the history of an object and learn details about the last person who came in contact with it just by touching it," Sophia explained.

"I wish I could do that. I've really got a lot of catching up to do," Merlin said.

"Sophia and I will help you, Merlin. We'll teach you everything that we know. I can teach you about the magic of the Old Religion, and Sophia can teach you about the magic of the Sidhe. I know that by the time we're finished though, you're going to be teaching us things. You're the most powerful warlock that I've ever seen. You're easily going to be more powerful than I am someday," Cara said as she looked at him with pride on her face.

Cara picked up several of the objects in the cave after chanting a spell. She saw from touching his things that Balinor had been living there for years. He hadn't moved. He was still around somewhere. They would just have to stay there and wait for him to come to them.

As it turned out, they didn't have to wait long. Balinor had just started spying on them from a hidden area of the cave that they hadn't found. He was listening to every word that they said as he tried to determine why they were there. He had recognized Lancelot as wearing the armor of a Knight of Camelot or he might have chanced coming out to meet them in person. As it was though, he was taking no chances. He was staying put until he was sure that they weren't there to kill him.

"How long do you think it will take until he returns here?" Sophia asked.

"I hope not much longer or Camelot may not be there when we get back. I didn't want to leave, but King Arthur made me. He said that I was his fastest rider. I feel guilty that I'm not there helping defend the castle. All of this sitting around just makes me feel completely useless," Lancelot said.

King Arthur? Uther was dead? Balinor thought to himself in surprise.

"Even if he does appear, how are we going to convince him that we're not here to kill him? He's still afraid of the Purge," Merlin said.

"Telling him that you're his son might go a long way in helping," Cara said.

"We should have brought Hunith along with us. She would probably be the only one that he would trust," Sophia said.

"Are you crazy, Soph? There's no way that I was going to bring my mother on a dangerous trip like this. That man did try to rob us after all," Merlin said.

"Yeah and Cara had him begging for mercy in five seconds so I don't see the problem. She would have been perfectly safe with us," Sophia said confidently.

Balinor couldn't believe what he was hearing and yet as he looked at Merlin he knew that it was true. He could see Hunith in his face, but he could also see part of himself there as well. Merlin was his son.

Balinor finally came out of hiding as he said, "I am Balinor. Why are you here?"

Balinor just kept looking at Merlin so Lancelot's words about the battle in Camelot barely registered with him. He finally turned to look at the knight after he finished as he said, "What should I care what happens to Camelot? Uther tried to kill me, and he imprisoned Kilgarrah. Camelot deserves whatever it gets for what Uther did to me. He ruined my life!"

"What about Gaius? Does he deserve to die? My mother told me that he helped you to escape from Uther and hid you with her. Is that how you repay him by not coming to help him when he needs you?" Merlin asked in anger.

Balinor felt shamed by his son's words, and he nodded as he said, "You're right. I can't let the good people still left in Camelot suffer for what Uther did. I'll come. Lead the way."

As they started to travel back to Camelot, Merlin and Balinor slowly got to know one another a little better as they began to talk. Merlin found that he liked his father, and he could see a lot of himself in him.

"I'm so sorry that I wasn't there for you when you were growing up. Now that Uther's gone though, maybe that could change. I'd like to be there for the rest of your life. I'd really like to see Hunith again too. I've missed her every day since I left. I kept hoping that she would find someone else and have a good life. The life that she deserved," Balinor said.

"She never found anyone else. I think that you were it for her," Merlin said.

"That sounds like her. I hope the real me lives up to her memory of me," Balinor said.

"Arthur hasn't decided to stop the ban yet, but I think that he's leaning in that direction. Especially since finding out that his sister has magic. I'm going to do my best to make sure that he does lift it. Now that I've finally met you, I don't ever want to have to lose touch with you again," Merlin said.

As if on cue, several armed men appeared out of nowhere at that moment and started to attack them. It wasn't just a group of regular soldiers though. They were accompanied by a woman in a long hooded robe that concealed her face. All of the sorcerers in the group could sense the magic flowing off of her in waves.

As Lancelot began to carve a swath through the soldiers with his sword while Balinor and Sophia helped him, Merlin and Cara confronted the mysterious woman who seemed to be intent on talking to them.

"Who are you? Are you the woman who attacked Camelot and turned my daughter to stone?" Cara demanded.

"I am. Don't worry too much about Morgause, Nimueh. My spell was only a temporary one. She will return to normal eventually. My mistresses do not want one of their two remaining Priestesses to be damaged. They want her in perfect shape when they reclaim her for their cause," the woman said.

"Over my dead body! The followers of the Old Religion aren't getting anywhere near her again as long as I'm alive," Cara said emphatically.

"You won't object for long once we return you to the fold as well, Nimueh. Then we will claim your other daughter. All three of you will belong to the Triple Goddess soon," the woman proclaimed.

"Who are you?" Cara asked.

"I am Blodeuwedd. I am but a humble servant of the Triple Goddess who has been sent to regain what was lost and to destroy Camelot and all of its defenders once and for all. I will reclaim Albion for the Old Religion once and for all. Only then will I be free once more from my curse," Blodeuwedd said.

"Your curse?" Merlin asked.

"I am much like your friend Freya, young warlock. I was cursed to spend the rest of my days as an owl because I was unfaithful to my husband. The Triple Goddess promised me that if I helped them to destroy Camelot and reclaimed their High Priestesses for them, however, that I would be able to be a woman again. Now that I have regained my human form, I will not fail. I will not go back to being an animal again. I will purchase my freedom with your lives!" Blodeuwedd shouted.

"How do you know about Freya?" Merlin asked in a fearful tone. He wondered if Freya had been attacked as well as Morgause. He had promised to help her not lead her to her doom.

"I know many things, Emrys, such as the fact that your father is the last Dragonlord. So if say someone sent Wyverns to attack Camelot, then his son would go and find him in order to stop them. You saved me the trouble of looking for him myself, boy. I thank you for that. Now I can kill you and your father at once and finally wipe out the Dragonlords forever while depriving Arthur of his greatest ally all at the same time. It's a win-win scenario for me," Blodeuwedd said with a wicked laugh.

"You seem to forget that you have two sorcerers, a Sidhe, and a knight fighting against you that will fight to the death to protect Balinor in order to save their kingdom," Cara said.

"I forget nothing. You don't really know who you're dealing with, do you? You're about to find out," Blodeuwedd said as she gestured at the trees around Merlin and Cara as her eyes glowed with magic.

The trees, the bushes, and even the very grass and flowers around them began to come to life and wrap themselves around the two of them with a grip as strong as iron. Cara and Merlin both struggled to break free, but none of their spells seemed to effect the suddenly homicidal vegetation in the area.

"Surround the knight and the Dragonlord and keep them busy. I'll take care of the Sidhe," Blodeuwedd commanded the men.

"I don't take orders from you. I only work for Cenred," the man replied indignantly.

"If Cenred wants to take Camelot, then he will continue to work with me. Therefore, you will continue to take orders from me or suffer the consequences," Blodeuwedd said in anger.

The soldier took one look at Merlin and Cara and gulped. He nodded and did as Blodeuwedd said.

"Let my friends go!" Sophia said in a threatening voice as she approached Blodeuwedd.

"I'm afraid not. I'm going to kill Merlin and reclaim Nimueh for my side. You I'm not certain about. I could use one of the Sidhe on my side. What do you say?" Blodeuwedd said.

"Here's what I say," Sophia said as she blasted Blodeuwedd with her staff.

Blodeuwedd was blown into a million pieces by the blast, and Sophia stood there in triumph over where her enemy's body had last stood. She smiled as she felt proud of herself for saving the day. Then she saw that Merlin and Cara were still trapped. Something was wrong.

"She's not dead!" Cara warned her.

Sophia heard Blodeuwedd laughing as she reformed her body from the very leaves and flowers of the forest around them. She stood before her with a smug grin on her face as she knocked the staff from her hands and then blasted her with a burst of magical energy so powerful that it sent her flying into a nearby tree. The impact from this crash knocked the young Sidhe girl out automatically.

"I think I'll keep her alive for now. I consider having a Sidhe, even a human one, at my beck and call as a very appealing notion. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Dragonlord to kill," Blodeuwedd said as she slowly walked toward Balinor as he fought with a huge group of warriors that had surrounded him on all sides.

"No!" Merlin screamed as he continued to struggle to get free.

Cenred's men parted to make way for Blodeuwedd as she walked toward Balinor. Balinor could sense her power and knew instinctively that he was in great danger.

"You are going to die now, Balinor. Then I will kill your son. Neither of you will live to help Arthur. With your deaths, no one will be left to stop Kilgarrah from finally destroying Camelot completely once I release him. In his anger at being imprisoned for so long, he will finish the job that the Wyverns began. Do you have any last words?" Blodeuwedd said.

"Only one. Aithusa!" Balinor said as his eyes began to glow with magic.

"What?" Blodeuwedd said in surprise.

A white dragon dived at Blodeuwedd out of nowhere and began to attack her with her teeth and claws. Blodeuwedd screamed in frustration as she struggled with the young dragon.

"Kill him!" Blodeuwedd ordered Cenred's men.

The men quickly overwhelmed Balinor and one of them got lucky as he stabbed the Dragonlord though the heart with his sword. Balinor fell to the ground dead as Merlin screamed in anger and pain.

Aithusa continued to fight with Blodeuwedd though even after Balinor's death. It seemed that the dragon was very attached to Balinor.

"Get this beast off of me!" Blodeuwedd screamed as Aithusa started to blow flames out of her mouth at her. Flame of course was very bad news for a woman made out of trees and flowers.

Merlin became filled with rage and anger at having his father taken from him. He shouted out a powerful fire spell at the top of his lungs and finally managed to set the plants binding him and Cara on fire at last. The mystic fire only damaged the plants and not him or Cara. As soon as the two of them were freed, Merlin raced after Blodeuwedd and used the same spell on her. She screamed in agony as the mystic fire consumed her and swiftly burnt her into ashes.

Cenred's men fled in terror as Merlin turned to look at them in anger. He walked over to his father and began to cry as he realized that even his magic couldn't save him now.

"Cara, can you bring him back?" Merlin asked in a voice filled with sorrow.

"No, Merlin. I'm afraid not. Only very powerful magic could bring him back to life now. The power of a Dragon or the Sidhe perhaps," Cara said.

"Well, it's a good thing that you have one of each of us here now then, isn't it?" the newly conscious Sophia said as she walked up to Balinor with her staff.

"Can you save him, Soph?" Merlin asked with pleading eyes.

"I'll do my best," Sophia said as she touched his shoulder in sympathy.

She began to chant a powerful spell to revive the dead as her eyes turned red, and her staff glowed with energy. Aithusa hovered over Balinor as if she knew that she might be needed.

Merlin seemed to be able to understand Aithusa now. It was almost as if he had a connection to her. Then he realized that his father's power to control dragons had been passed onto him with his death. He was a Dragonlord now.

"Help her bring him back to life," Merlin commanded Aithusa.

The little white dragon nodded in understanding as she began to bathe Balinor in her flames. At the same time, Sophia released the energy from her staff.

Balinor woke up with a sudden intake of breath and smiled at Merlin. He knew that his son had inherited his power right away when he saw Aithusa hovering over him.

"Thank you! Thank you all! Especially you two," He said to Sophia and Aithusa.

"You son is my friend," Sophia said as if that should be self-explanatory.

They continued to head back to Camelot as Merlin smiled with joy. His father was still alive! He had saved him.

"Most sons don't get to be Dragonlords until their father is dead. It looks like you found a loophole," Balinor joked.

"Don't even joke about that. I thought that I had lost you forever," Merlin said seriously.

"I know. I have to joke about it to keep myself from realizing just how close I came to being dead for good. It's not an easy thing to accept. If not for your friend and Aithusa, I would be gone right now," Balinor said in a somber voice.

"Who is Aithusa? Where did you find her?" Merlin asked.

"I found an unhatched dragon egg in an old tomb behind my cave a few months ago. I went through a lot of trouble to get in that tomb. You wouldn't believe what I had to go through, but it was worth it. I love that little dragon! I couldn't imagine life without her," Balinor said.

Merlin smiled at his father's show of affection for Aithusa. He had to admit that he was starting to like her too. Especially after the part she had played in saving the day.

When they all reached Camelot, they found to their relief that the Wyverns were all gone. They were quickly met by Morgause who was back to normal again just as Blodeuwedd had promised.

"The Wyverns disappeared hours ago after they suddenly all flew away as quickly as they came. I knew that you had destroyed that thing whatever she is as soon as they did," Morgause said happily.

Cara ran to her and hugged her tightly as she said, "I'm glad that you're okay. When Lancelot told me what had happened, I thought that I was going to go out of my mind."

"She went all dark on us for a while there. You should have seen it. It was very impressive," Sophia said with a grin.

"I would never want you to undo all of your progress over me," Morgause said.

"I didn't though. I'm fine, sweetheart. Everything's fine now," Cara said as she kissed Morgause's forehead.

Merlin wondered if that was really true or not though. He began to wonder if the Triple Goddess was really through with them or not yet especially when he saw an owl watching him nearby. He couldn't help but wonder if it was really an owl or Blodeuwedd in disguise.

As Morgana watched her mother and sister embrace, she breathed out a sigh of relief. She had suffered through another of her horrible dreams the other night and knew that it was coming true when Merlin suddenly wanted to go home. She had dreamed that Merlin met his father and that soon afterward that his father died while he and her mother were in terrible danger. She had sent Sophia to go with them for exactly that reason. She didn't know for sure that it would come true, but she had wanted the Sidhe girl to go with Merlin and Cara anyway just in case. Now she was glad that she had done so.

When Morgana came outside to greet her mother, her face erupted into a huge smile as she saw Aithusa. Aithusa seemed to be just as happy to see her. The little dragon hovered in front of Morgana's face as she lightly rubbed her head in an affectionate way.

"She's beautiful. Is she yours?" Morgana asked Balinor.

"She doesn't belong to me. She belongs to herself. She seems to like you a lot though. I've never seen her take to someone so quickly,' Balinor observed with a smile.

"I wish that I could keep her, but I'm afraid that Arthur wouldn't approve," Morgana said sadly.

"Maybe one day that will change," Merlin said.

"You could always come to visit her in Ealdor," Balinor said to Morgana.

Merlin smiled as he said, "Mother's going to be so happy. She's never gotten over you, you know."

"Same here, Merlin. Now I can finally get to be with her. At least I hope so," Balinor said.

"I don't think that Arthur really cares about killing you. He's not really that interested in continuing to hunt people with magic down at the moment. His new policy towards magic seems to be as long as he doesn't see it then it isn't a problem. Just stay low, and don't let anyone see Aithusa. I think you'll be okay," Morgana advised.

"I will and my offer is always open. I'm sure that Aithusa will love seeing you. Maybe Merlin could bring you along sometime. Now that it seems that the danger here is over, I'll head straight there. Hunith has waited long enough for me to come back I think," Balinor said.

Merlin rode with his father and Aithusa back home where they were all greeted by an unbelievably happy Hunith. Her one, true love had come back to her at last, and Merlin's family was truly complete for the first time.

Nearby an owl watched them for a moment and then flew away.

**Next: What will happen to Kilgarrah now that Merlin is a Dragonlord? Will he finally free him at last? Also something happens that causes Arthur to rethink his views on the ban on magic. Plus the Triple Goddess and their forces prove that they aren't through with Camelot yet as they send yet another servant to harass Camelot. This time it's a very strange man called the Green Knight.**


	9. The Coming of Gwaine

CHAPTER 9

I do not own Merlin and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE COMING OF GWAINE

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared in wonder as a man with green skin wearing green armor came slowly riding through Camelot on a green horse a few days after the incident with Blodeuwedd and the Wyverns. After several minutes of riding, he suddenly stopped and began to issue a challenge.

"I am the Green Knight. I propose an amusing game of life and death with an amazing prize awaiting anyone who is brave enough to participate in it and win," the Green Knight shouted.

Everyone stared at him in awe, but no one volunteered to take up his challenge. The Green Knight realized that he was going to have the reveal the prize first in order to create some interest.

He held up a huge green axe as he said, "This axe is a mighty weapon that can cut through anything no matter how tough it is in one blow. Better than that though is the fact that whoever owns this axe cannot be harmed by the Triple Goddess or any of their agents. Whoever holds this axe will be protected from their power. If Camelot itself were to possess this axe, then it would never need to worry about being attacked like it was a few days ago ever again. This axe would protect your entire kingdom. Now who will take up my challenge?"

Arthur suddenly appeared, and everyone who had gathered around to watch the Green Knight parted to make way for him. If there were even the slightest change that the weapon could do what this man said that it could, then he had to try to win it. He couldn't continue to let his kingdom be vulnerable to such an attack as the one that had happened before ever again.

"I am King Arthur, and you have gained my attention. What is this challenge? You still haven't said yet," Arthur asked.

"That is the amusing part. I will let anyone who wants to participate in my challenge have one free strike against me with the axe. Of course I reserve the right to return a strike of my own against the person who takes up the challenge a week later. Anyone who agrees to my challenge will automatically get the axe to keep just for participating. Remember though that I will then have the right to strike them with any weapon that I choose in a week from today's date, and they cannot try to defend themselves," the Green Knight said.

"Wait a minute. Let me see if I've got this right. You want me to take that axe and strike you with it; and if you manage to somehow survive my attack, you'll attack me next week? Are you insane?" Arthur asked with a smirk.

"Are you afraid? Would you deny your kingdom a chance at safety because of your hesitation?" the Green Knight said goading him.

"I'm not afraid of anything. What I think though is that you're a nut case who just made that whole story of yours up. Who else but an insane person would allow someone to take a free whack at them with a huge axe?" Arthur said.

"You want proof then, is that it?" the Green Knight asked.

"I'll have to require a lot of proof before I'll believe any part of your ridiculous story," Arthur said.

"Very well then proof you shall have. First I will prove that the axe can cut through anything," the Green Knight said as he held it up in front of him.

He walked over to a huge stone wall and said, "This axe will cut through the stone in this wall in one strike."

"So you keep saying. Prove it," Arthur challenged him.

The Green Knight took the axe and true to his word cut a huge chunk out of the stone wall with one massive blow. The huge chunk of stone came crashing to the ground directly in front of him and made an incredibly loud noise that rang throughout the courtyard.

The knight turned and smiled as he said, "Does that prove that I'm not crazy, your majesty?"

Arthur looked impressed as he said, "Okay, now I'm willing to believe that you have an incredible weapon with great power there. Where's the proof that it will protect Camelot from further attacks though? If you can prove that then I will gladly accept your challenge without any further hesitation," Arthur said.

"Good. So you have finally committed to the task at hand. Remember that your word is your bond. Now I will prove the second claim as well," the Green Knight said with a sinister smile on his face.

"Observe," the Green Knight said as he gave a high pitched whistle.

Two men came walking in from outside with an old woman in a robe holding a staff. The woman was tied up so tightly with ropes that she could barely walk.

"What is the meaning of this? What are you doing to that old woman?" Arthur asked in outrage.

"She's not just an ordinary woman. She's one of the Disir, the mouthpiece of the Triple Goddess. She's extremely dangerous and could easily kill everyone here if she were to be freed. Everyone but me that is! Here is your proof," the knight said as his men quickly freed the old woman.

"What are you doing?" Arthur said in alarm.

"Watch," the knight said as he held out the axe in front of him.

The old woman quickly held up her staff, and it began to glow with magical power as she said, "You will pay for daring to kidnap one of the Triple Goddess' most sacred and devoted servants. Now you will die."

She blasted the Green Knight with a huge blast of magic energy. Arthur was sure that the Green Knight was a dead man, but the blast had no effect on him. He just laughed at the Disir as she continued to use one attack after another against him. She looked at him in shock and surprise as none of her attacks affected him in the slightest.

"Now it's my turn," the Green Knight said as he used the axe to cut the woman's head off to the horror of everyone watching.

"Now will you use the axe on me as you promised? Remember that a knight never breaks his word," the Green Knight said.

"Very well. One strike," Arthur said as he took the axe from the Green Knight.

The Green Knight bent over and bared his neck to Arthur as he waited for him to make the next move. Arthur knew that the knight had him now. He had to go through with this now or he would break the Knights' Oath.

He thought that he saw a way out though. The knight never said that he had to kill him. He just said that he had to take a strike at him with it.

"If you think that you can just pretend to strike me or only give me a slight wound, think again," the knight said as he whistled yet again.

Two more of his men appeared out of nowhere holding a struggling Gwen between them. She was obviously terrified as she said, "What's happening?"

"Let her go!" Arthur screamed in anger.

"Of course I'll let her go. As soon as you strike me with the axe," the Green Knight said.

"You're insane," Arthur said.

"Either give me a real strike with the axe or watch her die," the Green Knight said as his men each pulled out a sword and held them to Gwen's neck.

"Your men will let her go as long as I give you an honest blow with the axe no matter what the result of that blow is?" Arthur asked.

"I give you my word of honor," the Green Knight said.

Arthur nodded as he swiftly took the axe and cut the Green Knight's head off with it.

"I say that he deserves that for threatening an innocent girl like Gwen. Unless you want the same, I suggest that you release her now," Arthur said in a cold voice.

The two men released Gwen, and then they both vanished into thin air. Arthur and Gwen both looked at the empty space where they used to be in bewilderment even as the Green Knight started laughing.

Arthur looked down on the ground to see that the knight's head was still alive! His body came back to life as well and picked up his head. He swiftly reattached it to his body even as he continued laughing at Arthur.

"You tricked me," Arthur finally realized.

"You're a little thick, aren't you? Of course I tricked you! Now you're bound by your oath as a knight to bear your neck to me in a week's time and let me strike it! You have one week to get your affairs in order, Arthur, and then Camelot will belong to us," the Green Knight said.

"You're working for the Triple Goddess," Arthur realized with an anguished expression on his face.

The Disir came back to life and reattached her head as well as she smirked at Arthur. Then she changed her appearance and became Blodeuwedd. Arthur only then realized just how completely tricked that he had been.

"You really are thick. Of course I am. Did you really think that there was a magic weapon that could kill a Disir? You are a fool, Arthur. Now prepare to suffer the fate of a fool in one week's time. Meet me here at this spot in one week's time or you will show everyone that you have no honor," the Green Knight said as he continued to laugh at Arthur.

Then the Green Knight, Blodeuwedd, and the knight's men all disappeared into thin air. Arthur sighed as he realized just how much trouble that he was in now, and all he had to show for it was a useless axe.

He saw just how useless that it really was as he saw the stone wall that the knight had broken was now back in one piece again. It had all been an illusion.

"Magic," Arthur spat out as if it were a curse word.

"Arthur, you can't do this," Gwen said as she came running over to him.

"I have to. I gave my word," Arthur said.

"This is stupid. If you do this, it will leave Camelot defenseless. You'll die for nothing, and the kingdom will be destroyed," Gwen argued.

"I'm nothing if I don't keep my word. Besides, Morgana will still be here. She can rule in my place," Arthur said.

"I'd rather have you alive instead. I'm funny that way I guess," Morgana said as she came walking up to him with a look of concern on her face.

"I can't break my word," Arthur said firmly.

"Not even if you were tricked?" Morgana asked in disbelief.

"Not even then I'm afraid," Arthur said.

"You can't do this. It's just what they want you to do," Morgana protested as she touched Arthur's shoulder.

As soon as she touched him, she began to scream. She was suddenly having a vision of the future. Arthur was bending over as the Green Knight prepared to cut his head off with a huge sword. She could see the knight swiftly bring the sword down, and then the vision ended just as the sword reached Arthur's neck. The vision repeated itself over and over again with the same ending every time as Morgana continued to scream.

"Morgana? Morgana, what's wrong?" Arthur said in concern.

Gwen motioned for him to bring Morgana inside the castle and away from the puzzled group of onlookers. He did so without hesitation. Gwen had become a good and trusted friend to him, and he knew that she must have a good reason for what she was doing.

Once there were inside, Gwen said, "She's having one of her visions. I've seen her like this before. She wakes up with them at night sometimes and screams for hours while I do my best to comfort her. This is the first time that I've ever seen her do it during the daytime though. Her powers must be getting stronger."

"Cara's potion isn't working anymore?" Arthur asked as he put his arms around Morgana in an attempt to comfort her.

"Not as well as it used to, no. Cara said that she was going to have to teach Morgana how to control her powers soon or she might go mad," Gwen said in a worried voice.

Arthur could see the pain and terror on Morgana's face, and he suddenly realized at last that she would never have chosen to be like this. He finally saw for the first time that his father had been wrong about magic. People didn't choose to use magic. They were born with it. They had it whether they wanted it or not. It was a part of them that they had no say in, and apparently sometimes they had no control over it either unless they were taught somehow. If they weren't taught, it could lead to disastrous results he now realized. How long had his poor sister suffered in silence because she had no one to train her and was too frightened to admit the truth about herself to Uther? He couldn't let her or anyone else suffer like this any longer.

"I'm lifting the ban on magic," Arthur said firmly.

"What?" Gwen asked in surprise.

"I'm lifting it before this week is through. Morgana's going to have enough problems running Camelot without having to worry about being persecuted for who she is. Besides Cara needs to help her as soon as possible without having to worry about getting caught for it. Morgana shouldn't have to suffer this way anymore," Arthur said as he held Morgana tightly while she continued to scream and shake.

"You're a good man, Arthur Pendragon," Gwen said as she smiled at him proudly.

"I'm also a very thick man. The Green Knight was completely right about that. I can't believe that it took something like this to open my eyes to the truth," Arthur said as he continued to do his best to comfort Morgana.

"We need to take her to Gaius. He's the only one that can help her with Cara gone off with Merlin," Gwen said.

"I might have known that Merlin would be behind this somehow. He'll do anything in order to get out of having to do an honest day's work. Where on Earth did they go to anyway?" Arthur asked as they started towards Gaius' quarters.

"I have no idea. They didn't tell me," Gwen said.

"Remind me to have Merlin shoe every horse in Camelot when he returns, and that's just for starters," Arthur said in an angry voice.

Gwen winced as she realized that Merlin was really going to catch a lot of heat for taking Cara away at a time like this. Arthur was not too happy to see Morgana suffering like this with no one around to help her.

Merlin was oblivious to all of this of course as he and Cara were several miles away talking with a newly freed Kilgarrah. Merlin had decided to take a chance and free Kilgarrah in the middle of the night now that he was a Dragonlord. He could always order Kilgarrah to stop now if he ever decided to go back to Camelot for revenge. There shouldn't be too much danger in letting him go now as a result.

Kilgarrah smiled as he said, "I can see from the expression on your face that you think that I may have plans to return to Camelot. With Uther dead though, I no longer have any reason to. I believe that Camelot is in good hands at the moment so I will take no action against it. I hope that reassures you, young warlock," Kilgarrah said.

"It does. Can I count on you to help if Camelot is in danger in the future?" Merlin asked.

"I really won't have much of a choice, will I? You could always order me to help whether I want to or not," Kilgarrah said.

"I'd prefer not to do that. I want you to help as a friend," Merlin said hopefully.

Kilgarrah laughed as if the thought of being Merlin's friend amused him greatly as he said, "Then that's the way that it will be. I will return to help whenever you ask me to as a friend. I owe you that much at least for my freedom. Thank you, young warlock," Kilgarrah said.

"Well, I guess you can go ahead and go now. This is far enough away from Camelot that you should be able to stay here in peace and not have to worry about being found by the knights," Merlin said happily.

"I will shortly do so but before I do I want to give you a warning. Arthur is in deadly danger. Events have transpired in your absence that will lead to his doom unless you stop them. You must immediately go back to Camelot and think of a plan to save him or Camelot will fall along with him. You have one week left to save his life," Kilgarrah warned before flying away.

"What was that all about? Can't he ever just give me all of the details about the future for once?" Merlin said with a sigh.

"He's right. We need to go back and find out what's going on as quickly as possible. I have a feeling that the Triple Goddess are up to their old tricks again," Cara said.

The two of them began riding back toward Camelot immediately. They rode for nearly an hour until they came across a scene that made them stop in their tracks. They could see a man running straight toward them who was being chased by a small horde of angry men who were running after him with swords, pitchforks, and any weapon that they happened to have handy.

"Do you think that he deserves whatever they're about to do to him?" Merlin asked with a grin.

"Probably but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I stood by and did nothing. I say we help him. After all, he seems to have a kind face," Cara said.

"You just think that he's handsome," Merlin accused her.

"That has nothing to do with it. Much," Cara said as she gave Merlin a quick kiss and smiled at him.

Merlin sighed but continued to smile as he and Cara both decided to help the fleeing man. Merlin used his magic to cause a quick avalanche of rocks from the nearby cliff to fall in front of the angry mob and temporarily separated them from the running man.

"You're getting better. You did that without even saying a word. I told you that you would improve as time passed," Cara said.

The man ran up to the two of them almost out of breath as he said, "Could I trouble one of you for a swift ride away from her before that group back there catches up with me?"

"Sure, why not?" Cara said as she gestured to him to get on the back of her horse.

"Thank you, pretty lady," the man said as he mounted Cara's horse.

Cara smiled while Merlin frowned. Maybe this had been a bad idea after all.

They began to ride off as the man asked Cara, "Would it be too forward of me to ask if you're free or not?"

"Yes, it would," Merlin said in an annoyed tone.

"I wasn't asking you," the man said.

"He's right though. I'm his girlfriend, Mister -?" Cara said as she prodded him for his name.

"Gwaine. My name's Gwaine. I'm sorry for hitting on your girlfriend. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. That's how I wound up in that fix that you just found me in as a matter of fact," Gwaine said.

"What happened?" Cara asked.

"I asked out a very beautiful girl in the bar back in that village that we just passed. I thought that she was unattached since she so eagerly accepted, and we sealed the deal with a kiss. It was a very good kiss too I must say. She positively swooned, and she wasn't so bad either. It turned out though that she was the fiancé of the owner of the bar. She was using me in an attempt to make him jealous unfortunately. So instead of blaming her, the owner sends an angry mob after me. I was totally innocent. I didn't know," Gwaine protested.

Merlin started to smile despite himself even though Gwaine had just hit on Cara. He found himself automatically liking this man. Obviously Cara did too as she was smiling at him as well.

"Gwaine, how would you like to go back to Camelot with us? Maybe you'd have better luck there," Merlin offered.

"Why not? Next time I'm going to be very careful on who I ask out though. I've learned my lesson. Next time I ask for a detailed history from a girl before I start making eyes at her," Gwaine said with a grin.

Merlin and Cara both exchanged a grin as they both came to the conclusion that they had just met yet another future friend. They had no idea that they had also just come across a part of their way out of the mess that Kilgarrah had warned them about. That was always assuming that they could convince Gwaine to help of course.

They would soon find out that that would be more challenging than they would have expected.

**Next: As Merlin and Cara find out about the Green Knight's deal with Arthur, they come up with a desperate plan to save him. How does Gwaine fit into this and what difficulty do they come up against in getting him to go along with it?**


	10. Gwaine and the Green Knight

CHAPTER 10

I do not own Merlin and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

GWAINE AND THE GREEN KNIGHT

"He did what? He's a king alright. He's the king of the clotpoles!" Merlin shouted out in disbelief as soon as he found out from Gwen what Arthur had done.

Gwen had found Arthur, Cara, and Gwaine as soon as they had entered Camelot and told them the news of Arthur's deal with the Green Knight. Merlin had hit the roof immediately.

"Merlin, what if he hears you?" Gwen asked.

"I really don't care since it seems that he's going to be dead in a week anyway. After everything that I've gone through to keep him alive, he goes and does something like this! He must want to die is all I can figure out. Now I have to save him from himself . . . again!" Merlin said with his hands up in the air.

"We'll come up with something, Merlin. Don't worry about it," Cara said with a warm smile.

"I can't believe that he was that stupid though. Actually I can now that I think about. It sounds just like him," Merlin said with an evil grin.

"This is why Arthur needs you as an advisor on magic. You would have seen right through the Green Knight's illusions immediately, and you could have warned him," Cara pointed out.

"I know but that would mean that I would have to tell him that I have magic," Merlin said.

"Merlin," Cara said in a warning voice as she looked at Gwen.

Gwen looked at him in shock for a moment, but then she quickly smiled as she said, "You don't have to worry about me. I won't tell anyone. I still can't believe it though. You have magic?"

"Yeah and I'm tired of having to hide it. I've helped save Arthur's life so many times now, and he doesn't even know it. I deserve to get some credit for that," Merlin said.

"If it makes you feel any better, I heard him say that he's going to lift the ban on magic soon. Once he does that, you could tell him then," Gwen said.

"Really? What convinced him to do that?" Merlin asked in surprise.

After Gwen told Merlin about what happened to Morgana, Cara immediately said with concern, "Where is she now?"

"She's in her room. She finally went to sleep after Gaius gave her a very strong potion. It put her out like a light. She seems to be fine now," Gwen said.

"This is ridiculous! I have to talk to Arthur right now, Merlin," Cara said.

"Cara, Arthur got very upset about it. He's not heartless," Gwen said.

"I know. I just need to talk to him about the ban and tell him something that I should have told him a long time ago. Either it'll convince him to lift the ban immediately or it'll make him keep it forever, but I have to take that risk," Cara said.

"Cara, if you're going to tell him what I think that you're going to tell him you might do more harm than good. Wait until he lifts the ban first," Merlin said.

"I can't. He needs to hear this now," Cara said as she left to find Arthur.

"Hello," Gwaine said as he smiled seductively at Gwen.

Gwen blushed as she said, "Hello, it's very nice to meet you, but I'm already taken."

"Oh, good! I'm glad that we got that out of the way first then. I don't want another angry mob after me as soon as I get here. I'd like to stay here at least a few days before that happens this time. Would you like to just be friends then?" Gwaine said.

"Sure. My name's Gwen," Gwen said as she held out her hand to him.

"Gwaine," Gwaine said with a warm smile as he took her hand and shook it.

Merlin rolled his eyes at Gwaine. He had a feeling by the end of the week that half of the women in Camelot were going to be after him and so were half of the knights but for totally different reasons.

Cara found Arthur alone in his chambers and hesitated at the door. Eventually she gathered the courage to knock on it though, and she immediately noticed that Arthur didn't seem too surprised to see her when he opened the door.

"I expected that you'd come after you heard about what happened to Morgana. You want to talk to me about lifting the ban, don't you? I'm already going to do that though. I plan on doing it tomorrow," Arthur said.

"Thank you, Sire. I . . . There's something that you deserve to know though before you lift it. It's about your mother," Cara said.

Arthur could see that she was afraid to tell him whatever she had to say to him so he quickly said, "If you're afraid that I won't lift the ban because of whatever you have to say, you don't have to worry about that. I still plan on doing that regardless. Whatever you have to tell me about my mother, please go ahead and do so. I always knew that my father was keeping something about her from me my entire life. I'd like to know what that was," Arthur said.

Just then Gaius knocked on the door, and Arthur told him to come in. Gaius ran inside and said, "Merlin told me what you were about to do. You can't tell him the truth, Cara. Uther didn't want him to know."

"He deserves to know, Gaius," Cara said.

"He's the king now. He could order you to be executed," Gaius pleaded with her.

"If so, then I deserve it. I can't hide who I am anymore, Gaius," Cara said.

"What are you two going on about? What does Cara have to do with my mother? She probably wasn't even alive when she died," Arthur said in confusion.

Cara began to tell Arthur the truth even as Gaius' eyes silently pleaded with her not to as she said, "My name is not Cara, Arthur. I am Nimueh."

"What?" Arthur said in complete shock.

"I notice that you're not going for your sword yet so that's a good sign I hope," Cara said with a nervous smile.

"You've helped save my kingdom and my friends several times so I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt for now. I honestly can't believe that you're as evil as my father always said. You've been nothing been good to me and Morgana," Arthur said.

"I've changed recently. Once I was just as evil as your father told you until I was given a second chance to start over again and cleansed myself of the darkness within me. It was because I started to practice dark magic that I became the way that I was. It corrupted me and changed my personality into the complete opposite of what it used to be. This is the real me. Don't misunderstand. Most magic doesn't have that effect on its users. It is only used for evil depending on who uses it. The magic itself is not evil. Dark magic however is different. Thankfully most practitioners of magic do not use such spells. They are used only to harm others, and that is what makes them evil by their very nature," Cara explained.

"I think I understand. It sounds like most magic is just like a sword. A sword can be used for good or evil depending on the user, but the sword itself isn't evil," Arthur said.

"Yes, that's an apt analogy, Sire. Magic is very similar except that magic can be used to do other things besides kill of course. The comparison is close enough however," Cara said.

"I'm following you so far. What does this have to do with my mother or why my father hated you and magic itself so much though?" Arthur asked.

"It was the dark magic that corrupted me so much that it made me agree to do something that I never would have if I were in my right mind. Your mother was barren. She couldn't have children, and your father was desperate to have a male heir to take over Camelot. So desperate that he asked me to use magic to make her pregnant," Cara said.

Arthur started to become extremely angry, and Cara could see that he was struggling to control his temper. She could tell that he already suspected what she was about to say next. Gaius began to get in front of her protectively, and she smiled at him as she gestured to him to move back. Gaius always was her best friend. She knew that he would do anything for her, but she would never ask him to die for her.

"Continue, Cara," Arthur said in an emotional voice.

"I warned him that to create a new life that another life must be lost. I didn't know exactly whose life that it would be though. In hindsight, I should have known though. Your father didn't seem to care about the consequences however, and I have to admit that I was so far gone at that point that I didn't either. I cast the spell, and when you were born months later your mother instantly died. She had given her life for yours. Your father was devastated, and he quickly turned against me. We had been good friends, but this divided us forever. He cast me out of Camelot. Then he began the Great Purge and started killing everyone that used magic. That was when I began my war against him. It would have been one thing to blame me. I could have understood that. To blame innocent people though. I've never understood that. They had nothing to do with what happened to your mother and neither did magic. I'll accept the blame for the entire incident, Arthur, but please don't make the same mistake that Uther did. If you want to punish someone, I offer myself up for your judgment. Please lift the ban though. Don't punish the innocent for what I did!" Cara said in tears.

"No, Arthur. Let her go. If you must punish someone, punish me. I'll die in her place. She's changed now, and she deserves to have a second chance to have the life that she should have had before. I offer up myself for execution if need be," Gaius said.

"No! Gaius is innocent. He had nothing to do with it!" Cara shouted firmly.

"Stop! There's no need for this. I'm not going to execute anyone," Arthur said.

Cara and Gaius looked at him in shock as he continued to speak.

"I certainly am not going to kill you, Gaius. I know that you would never do anything to hurt me or anyone else. I can believe Cara when she says that you're innocent of the whole thing. As for you, Cara, I can see that you're truly sorry for what you did. I can also see that you seem completely different from the person that my father used to describe. I could see the change in Morgause myself. She was totally ruthless when I first met her, and then once you did whatever it is that you did to cleanse her of this dark magic that she used she become almost sweet. She's still a little tough, but just the other day I saw her comfort a little girl who lost her father recently. She's become a totally different person now. I've seen the proof of what you're saying for myself. I forgive you, Cara. I also forgive my father at least for the accidental death of my mother anyway. I'm not so sure if I can forgive him for the needless deaths of so many innocent people though. He killed so many just because he made a mistake. He blamed them and magic for what he did. He blamed everyone but himself. That only cements my decision. I'm lifting the ban tomorrow," Arthur said.

"Thank you, Arthur! Thank you!" Cara said as she suddenly hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek.

Arthur began to blush as he said, "Yeah, you're welcome. I, uh, I think that you should stop doing that. What if Merlin were to walk in here and get the wrong idea?"

"Sorry. It's just like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Did I embarrass you?" Cara said as she let him go.

"No, I'm fine. You're just in remarkably good shape for someone your age that's all," Arthur said with a red face.

"You're silly, Arthur. I mean, Sire. I'm sorry. I stopped calling you that, didn't I?" Cara said apologetically.

"It's okay. We're not out in public and we're friends," Arthur said.

"Thank you again, Sire. I really mean it. I'm going to go check on Morgana now. I have something that I can give her now that the ban is going to be lifted," Cara said.

"What's that?" Arthur asked.

Cara held up a bracelet that she pulled out of one of her pockets as she said, "This bracelet. I just created it to take the bad dreams away from Morgana. She'll never have those nightmares again as long as she wears it."

Arthur smiled as he said, "Go ahead and give it to her. I don't ever want to see that look of panic on her face ever again."

Cara started to leave and then she turned around to say, "She was having visions about you and the Green Knight, wasn't she?"

"I think so, yes," Arthur admitted.

"You can't go through with this," Cara said.

"I have to. If I don't, I'll show the world that I have no honor. I can't do that," Arthur insisted.

Cara looked at him sadly for a moment and then said, "If you want my help against the Green Knight, all you have to do is ask."

"I appreciate that, but I'll have to do this by myself," Arthur said firmly.

Cara and Gaius left the king's chambers and as the door shut behind them Cara embraced Gaius. She smiled at him as she said, "You stupid man. You shouldn't have done that. He could have killed you. Don't ever do anything like that again."

"I'd gladly give my own life to protect yours," Gaius said.

"I know. I don't want you to though. I want you to stick around for a long time to come, old friend. My life wouldn't be the same without you," Cara said with a warm smile.

Merlin came walking up to them with trepidation at first until he noticed that they were both smiling so he said, "I take it he's in a good mood then?"

"Yes, everything's okay now, Merlin. Well, almost everything. I couldn't talk Arthur out of facing the Green Knight," Cara said.

"I don't think anyone could do that. He's too stubborn especially about his honor. Once his mind is made up, you can't change it," Merlin said.

"Not even Cara hugging him helped," Gaius said with an evil grin.

"What?" Merlin asked with an extremely jealous look on his face.

"Why did you do that?" Cara asked with an annoyed look on her face.

"Just to see that reaction on his face," Gaius admitted as he tried not to laugh.

"You're so evil sometimes," Cara said with a sigh.

"Why did you hug Arthur?" Merlin demanded.

"It was just to show him how happy I was that he's lifting the ban tomorrow," Cara said.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Cara. I just. I . . . I'm just really . . . stupid sometimes," Merlin said.

"I know but I still love you," Cara said as she kissed him.

"Is Merlin being jealous of Arthur again despite you telling him five million times now that you have no interest in Arthur anymore?" Sophia said as she came walking up to them with a huge grin on her face.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Cara said with a chuckle.

"Honestly, Merlin, she's not interested in him. I am. Even when I wind up the Queen, you're still going to be jealous of her, aren't you?" Sophia kidded him.

"No, I'm not. I know that I'm being stupid. I just can't help it sometimes. She's just so beautiful that I sometimes wonder what she's doing with me," Merlin admitted.

Cara looked shocked at this very candid admission as she said, "It's because I love you, you idiot."

"You're kind of giving me mixed signals here," Merlin said.

"How about this signal?" Cara asked as she kissed Merlin passionately.

As Cara pulled away from the kiss, Merlin stood there looking stunned for a moment with a big dumb smile on his face. Sophia waved her hand in front of his face, and he didn't even blink.

"You're good. You're going to have to tell me how to do that sometime," Sophia joked.

The four of them began to walk away from Arthur's room or more accurately Cara and Sophia dragged Merlin away with them as he was still practically catatonic. Gaius shook his head at the antics of the three of them in disbelief. It still amazed him how seamlessly both Cara and Sophia fit into their lives now and how much happier Merlin was with the two of them around. They had become practically inseparable now.

None of them saw Arthur's door slowly open and Morgause stick her head out of it to see if the coast was clear. She quickly emerged from the room as she said, "They're gone now. I wish I could talk you out of facing the knight, Arthur. I really think it's a bad idea. The kingdom needs you."

"I can't, Morgause. I'm sorry," Arthur said.

"I need you too," Morgause said as she kissed him.

"I have to do this. I'm sorry," Arthur said as he returned her kiss.

She sighed as they embraced each other one last time, and then she slowly pulled away from him as she said, "By the way, next time when you describe me to someone don't call me sweet. I'm not sweet."

"Yes, you are. You're very kind too," Arthur said with a mischievous smile.

"I'll take kind but not sweet," Morgause said with a grin.

"I'll see you later, Morgause," Arthur said.

"You'd better or I'll hunt you down, your highness," Morgause joked as she left.

"I'd like that actually," Arthur said to himself.

Then Arthur saw Freya looking at him in shock and knew that she had overheard everything. He quickly said, "Freya, I don't want anyone to know about this yet. Can I trust you to keep quiet about this?"

"Of course, your highness. I'd do anything for you after you took me in like you have. Most kings wouldn't do such a thing especially for someone like me," Freya said.

"What do you mean by that?" Arthur asked.

"I . . . I thought that you knew," Freya said in fear.

"No, I don't. Tell me what it is that you're talking about, Freya," Arthur said in a calm voice.

"I'm cursed, your highness. I turn into a Bastet at night. Cara has given me complete control over my Bastet form though so that I can't hurt anyone. I just stay in the room until the curse is lifted. I didn't know that you didn't know. Please don't kill me! I'm not dangerous anymore I promise," Freya said as she trembled in fear.

Arthur only smiled as he said, "I'll keep your secret if you keep mine."

Freya smiled back at him as she said, "Thank you, Sire. Thank you!"

Arthur went back into his room in shock as he thought about sweet little Freya turning into a horrible monster every night. What a horrible existence she must have. No wonder she was always so sad all of the time. He wondered if a way to reverse her spell existed somewhere only for her to have never been able to find it because of the ban.

Maybe once the ban was lifted, he would start gathering all magical knowledge together in one place and preserve it for all magic users to learn. In fact, maybe he should start a magic school where people like Morgana could come to learn how to use their powers and learn as many spells as possible as long as they were beneficial ones and not dark ones. He thought that he would still ban dark magic but not immediately execute its practitioners. He could maybe see if they could be reformed first like Cara and Morgause had been before he tried to punish them.

He would have to discuss this with Merlin first. It was too bad that Merlin didn't know magic. It would really have helped. At least he had Cara to talk to for advice about it. He trusted her advice almost as much as he did Merlin's now.

Maybe he would put Cara in charge of the magic school he was thinking about. He would have put Merlin in charge of it if he knew magic. If nothing else, doing that would have given him an excuse to get a better servant Arthur thought to himself with a chuckle.

As Arthur was planning their futures while he still had time, Merlin and Cara were busy planning on saving his. They only had a few days left to save Arthur from himself. They weren't about to let him sacrifice himself for nothing like this. Not without trying everything that they could to stop it first.

"I say we do what Gaius said that Uther was planning on doing to him when he was going to fight the Black Knight. We put him to sleep and let someone else take his place," Cara said.

"Okay, but even if we do that won't the Green Knight call it off once he sees that it's not Arthur?" Merlin asked.

"Yes, but only if he knows about it. I can perform a glamour spell on someone and get them to look and sound exactly like Arthur," Cara said.

"We need someone who can fight as well as Arthur too though in order to complete the illusion. The only one that I can think of is Lancelot, but he won't go through with it because it would be going against the king even if it's to save his life. His oath as a knight would never allow him to do that," Merlin said.

"So we need someone who isn't a knight but who is just as good as Arthur," Cara said.

"Well, that ends that idea," Merlin said.

"Not necessarily. Have you seen Gwaine fight?" Sophia said.

"No. I've seen him run a lot though," Merlin joked.

"When did you see him fight?" Cara asked intrigued.

"I was walking along minding my own business when I heard a horrible commotion coming from the bar. I watched as Gwaine took on practically every man in that bar in a drunken brawl. He beat them all!" Sophia said with a voice filled with pride.

"Sophia, were you on a date with Gwaine?" Cara asked.

"Maybe," Sophia said with an evil grin on her face.

"You were. You were on a date with Gwaine!" Merlin said as he began to laugh at her.

"Alright, alright! He asked me out, and I accepted. It was pretty good actually. I even enjoyed the fight. It was over me actually. Some guy hit on me, and Gwaine told him to go away. He still refused even when I told him to go away. So Gwaine hit him and somehow the whole thing got way out of hand. It was amazing!" Sophia said with a huge grin on her face.

"So he can fight very well, but how is he with a sword?" Merlin asked.

"Very good actually. He took some of them on with a sword when they pulled out theirs. He beat them all," Sophia said.

"I think we've found our man then," Cara said.

"So has Sophia apparently," Merlin said with a chuckle.

"I'm not giving up on Arthur yet, but so far Gwaine's not a bad runner-up. Besides, I think Arthur's already found someone anyway," Sophia said.

"Really? Who?" Cara asked.

"I don't know. It's just a feeling I have. He's smiling a lot more these days, and he's not as grumpy anymore," Sophia said.

"I've noticed that too. I thought maybe it was because he was facing certain death though. It made him decide to stop acting like a jerk for once," Merlin said.

"No, I think it's a girl. I just wish it was me. Still Gwaine isn't bad. I like him a lot. He's fun to hang around," Sophia said.

"I bet. He always seems to be getting into some kind of trouble," Merlin said.

"Can you bring him here? I need to talk to him," Cara said.

"Your wish is my command," Sophia said as she ran off to get Gwaine.

"I'm so glad that you stopped us from killing each other, Cara. She's really become like the sister I never had," Merlin said.

"She has for me too. For me though, she's like the bratty little sister that I never asked for," Cara joked.

"I heard that," Sophia said as she came back with Gwaine.

"Do they always talk to you like that?" Gwaine asked in surprise.

"Yeah, but they're just joking around though. They don't really mean it. I say things like that to them too," Sophia said.

"That's amazing. You're already that close to them in such a short time?" Gwaine asked.

"That's right. You wouldn't even know that I'm not human," Sophia said.

"You're not human?" Gwaine asked in shock.

"No, I'm a Sidhe or at least I used to be. It's not so bad being human though. I used to hate it, but now I love it," Sophia said.

"My first Sidhe girl. I'm branching out into other worlds now," Gwaine said with a smug grin on his face.

"I wouldn't ask out any other Sidhe if I were you, Gwaine. They probably wouldn't be as friendly as I am. I hated all humans until I got used to them. Now I can see how wrong that I was about them. Some of you aren't so bad," Sophia said.

"Thanks," Merlin said sarcastically.

"No problem, little brother," Sophia said.

"Why am I the little brother?" Merlin protested.

"I'm older than you are," Sophia said.

"No, you're not. You've only been human a few weeks," Merlin said.

"I'm counting my real age. I'm young but only for a Sidhe. I'm older than you. Trust me," Sophia said.

"How much older?" Gwaine asked.

"Never you mind! Never ask a lady how old she is, Gwaine. Didn't your dad ever teach you that?" Sophia joked.

Gwaine became very sad then as he said, "No. My father was a knight who died fighting for Caerleon and left my family with nothing. When my mother asked for help from the king, do you think he gave her anything? No, of course not. He refused to help her. Ever since then I've known that the nobility were not worth fighting for. I've never found one yet that I'd even work for much less give my life for."

Merlin and Cara sighed as they looked at each other. There went that idea to save Arthur out the window. Gwaine would never help Arthur.

"I'm so sorry, Gwaine. I lost my father too not too long ago," Sophia said as she became filled with sadness.

Merlin felt terrible, and he looked away from her in shame. Sophia touched his arm and said in a gentle voice, "I don't blame you, Merlin. You were just protecting yourself and Cara."

Gwaine looked at her in surprise as he said, "You're not like most people that I've met."

"I'm not like any people that you've met. I'm a Sidhe turned human, remember?" Sophia said as she started to smile again.

"What did you bring me here for?" Gwaine finally asked.

"I brought you here so that Merlin and Cara could ask you to fill in for Arthur when he's supposed to go fulfill the Green Knight's challenge. They want to disguise you as Arthur so that they can save Arthur's life," Sophia said.

"No," Gwaine said.

"Arthur's not like the other nobles that you've met. He's a good man," Merlin protested.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Gwaine said.

"You'll see it tomorrow. He's going to lift the ban on magic," Cara said.

"If he does that, then I might consider it," Gwaine said.

"Would you consider it for me?" Sophia said as she smiled at him.

Gwaine smiled at her as he said, "You might help tip me over the edge maybe, but I would have to see what kind of a man that he was first."

"I can tell you what kind of man that he is," Freya said as she suddenly came into the room.

"Hello!" Gwaine said with a huge grin.

"Hello. I'm Freya, and I couldn't help but hear you all talking about Arthur. Mostly because I was coming here to tell you that Arthur knows about me now," Freya said.

"What?" Merlin asked in fear.

"What did he say?" Cara asked.

"He's okay with it. He's not afraid of me," Freya said happily.

"Why would he be afraid of a beauty like you?" Gwaine asked with a grin.

"Hello, I'm standing right here!" Sophia said in a jealous voice.

"I didn't mean to cause any trouble," Freya apologized.

"You didn't, Freya. He's causing this all by himself," Sophia said in an angry voice.

"You still didn't answer my question," Gwaine said as he looked at Sophia nervously.

"I'm cursed. At night I turn into a Bastet. I'm in control of myself now though thanks to Cara," Freya said.

Gwaine looked completely astonished as he said, "Arthur was okay with that?"

"Yes, he didn't chase me or call me a freak. He actually smiled at me and accepted me for who I am," Freya said with imaginable joy on her face.

Gwaine was taken completely by surprise by this as he said, "Maybe Arthur isn't so bad after all."

If Arthur could accept Freya, maybe he would accept me too. Merlin said to himself.

"I'll help you," Gwaine said.

Sophia stared at him with an angry look on her face even as Gwaine said, "What's wrong with you? I said I'd do it."

"You just hit on my friend right in front of me. That's what's wrong with me," Sophia said.

Gwaine smiled as he said, "I just wanted to make you jealous. It worked, didn't it?"

Sophia looked relieved as she said, "You should be glad that I'm not a Sidhe anymore or I'd have already turned you into a frog if not something worse."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you like me," Gwaine said.

"Nonsense! You're just good company that's all," Sophia said with a grin.

"Right," Gwaine said as he kissed her.

"So what's the plan?" Merlin asked Cara as Gwaine and Sophia kissed.

"When Gwaine finishes kissing Sophia, I'll cast a glamour on him and see if it works. If he can fool us, then he'll fool the Green Knight," Cara said.

"That may take a while. I don't think that he's going to stop anytime soon," Merlin said.

Exactly a week after the agreement between the Green Knight and Arthur, the Green Knight returned to Camelot and eagerly awaited his shot at Arthur's head. He smiled smugly as Arthur came walking up to him.

"Now, Arthur, fulfill your end of the bargain," the Green Knight said.

Arthur bent over and bared his neck to the Green Knight. The Green Knight picked up a huge sword off of the ground and held it over his head. Then he began to swiftly swing it down towards Arthur's waiting neck.

Once the sword hit Arthur's neck though, it shattered into a million pieces! The Green Knight looked at Arthur in horror as he realized that something had gone horribly wrong.

"What?!" the knight said in complete confusion.

"Now that you've gotten your shot in at me like we agreed on it's time for me to get another shot at you," Arthur said as he pulled out Excalibur.

Arthur used Excalibur to swiftly cut the Green Knight in half before he could react. The Green Knight then fell to pieces before him. Literally. As soon as both halves of the knight hit the ground they shattered into as many pieces as his sword had earlier. What was then left of the weird knight turned into dust and was blown away on the wind.

The people of Camelot cheered and called Arthur's name over and over again. Arthur thanked them and bowed to them before he swiftly returned to the castle.

It was a good thing that he did too. The glamour was about to wear off. If he had waited much longer, the people would have seen that Arthur was actually Gwaine in disguise wearing an enchanted helmet created by Cara that was designed to protect his neck from the Green Knight's sword.

The real Arthur was sleeping away in his room oblivious to everything. He had been given a sleeping drug by Morgause. Merlin and Cara had needed someone to administer it to him, and she had immediately volunteered to do it. In fact, Cara noticed that she was a little bit too eager to do it. She would have to ask her about that later.

As Gwaine gave Excalibur back to Merlin, Merlin said, "Maybe you should try to become a knight, Gwaine. You're more than qualified to be one."

"I just might, Merlin. I just might at that. I might actually have a reason to stick around somewhere for a while this time," Gwaine said as he looked at Sophia with a smile.

Even as Gwaine thought about his future, Merlin began to wonder about his own. Now that the ban on magic had been lifted, Arthur was actually starting to talk about a magic school of all things. He had even asked his advice on it, and Merlin had told him that he would give him his thoughts about it tomorrow. Merlin thought that he might tell him the truth about who he really was tomorrow as well. He really wanted to run that school. He thought that maybe he could really make a difference there. Maybe he and Cara could run it together with a little help from Sophia of course.

Blodeuwedd stood alone in the middle of the forest miles away from Camelot as the Green Knight's body slowly came back together in front of her. He was just as indestructible as she was as long as the Triple Goddess needed them.

"I can't understand it. I was sure that I had Arthur. He must have had help," the Green Knight said as soon as he reformed his body.

"He's going to be harder to kill than we thought especially with so many sorcerers working to help him. Maybe we should even the odds. We should call in some magic users of our own. Let's go have a meeting with the Sidhe elders," Blodeuwedd said with a malicious grin on her face.

**Next: The Sidhe decide to join forces with the Triple Goddess and launch a plan of their own to kill Arthur. What side will Sophia be on once she finds out about it? Also Merlin considers telling his secret to Arthur. Will this finally be the time for the big reveal?**


	11. The Changeling

CHAPTER 11

I do not own Merlin or Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE CHANGELING

Sophia felt a tugging at her consciousness that woke her from a sound sleep in the middle of the night and caused her to wind up at the Lake of Avalon. She stood there at the lake's edge as she waited for whoever had called her there to show themselves.

She didn't have to wait long as several Sidhe elders soon emerged from the lake and surrounded her. Fear filled her heart as she wondered if she had just been led to her death.

"Don't worry, young one. We aren't here to kill you. We're here to make you an offer. It's an offer that we don't believe that you'll refuse. Not if you want to regain your immortality," one of the elders said.

"You'll make me a Sidhe again?" Sophia said in disbelief.

"If you help us, we will. If you refuse, you'll be trapped as a human forever," another of the elders said.

"What do you want me to do?" Sophia asked hesitantly as she feared what they might say.

"We have a plan in effect to destroy Camelot. We only ask that you not interfere and tell anyone else about it," the first elder to speak said.

"That's all?" Sophia asked.

"Yes, it's as simple as that. Don't give anyone in Camelot any advanced warning, and you will be allowed to come home," the first elder said.

Sophia felt sick inside at what they were asking her to do. She didn't want anyone to die especially not her friends.

"Do they all have to die? Can't you at least spare Merlin and Cara?" Sophia asked.

"What have they done to you? You actually care about these pathetic creatures now, don't you? You've become one of them," the second elder said in disgust.

"We will have to kill her if that is true. We can't allow her to warn the others," the first elder said.

"Wait! You're right. You're absolutely right. I've become contaminated by them. I've even started to think like them. I agree to your deal, elders. I won't interfere as long as you allow me to survive and come home," Sophia said.

"Excellent. We had to make sure of your compliance before we could go any further with our plans. We knew that you would see through them the instant that they began. That's why we had to be certain that you were on our side. I'm glad that you've made the right choice. We would hate to have to destroy one of our own especially over a bunch of insignificant mortals," the second elder said.

"Trust me. I know whose side that I'm on now," Sophia said.

"Very good. If everything goes according to plan, then you will be one of us again by tomorrow," the first elder said.

Long after the elders went back into the lake, Sophia stood at the edge of it with a sense of dread in her heart. She knew that she had just made a decision here today that would change her life forever. She just hoped that she could live with the consequences.

Sophia returned to Camelot with a heavy heart and found that she couldn't sleep. She stayed awake the rest of the night and was already up at dawn as she waited to see what the elders had planned.

She automatically knew what the plan was when she saw the new arrival to Camelot that morning. The elders had been right. There was no way that she could have missed it.

Merlin could see the look of pain and sorrow on Sophia's face, and he instantly knew that something was very wrong with her.

"Hey, Soph. Are you okay?" Merlin asked her in a gentle voice.

Sophia looked at him with tears in her eyes as she said, "I'm fine. It's not me that you need to worry about."

"What?" Merlin asked in confusion.

"Never mind. I have to go now," Sophia said as she ran from him.

"Soph?" Merlin asked with concern.

"Excuse me," a woman's voice said behind Merlin.

Merlin was too busy worrying about Sophia to even notice that anyone had said anything though. He started to go after her when he suddenly felt a firm hand on his shoulder that prevented him from moving.

"The princess needs to ask you a question, servant. Answer it now or we'll know the reason why," a man said.

Merlin turned to see that he was being held back by a huge man who was obviously a bodyguard to this princess whoever she was. He vaguely remembered Arthur saying something about a princess arriving in Camelot today, but it hadn't struck him as being of any importance since there were always princesses coming to Camelot to try to talk Arthur into marrying them.

Merlin looked past the bodyguard to see that the princess was someone very familiar to him. A wide grin covered his face as he said, "Jenny! It's so good to see you again!"

"Jenny? My name is not Jenny! You obviously have mistaken me for someone else. I am the Princess Vivian, and I have come here to find King Arthur. Do you know where he is? I should hope that you are better at recognizing your King than you are at recognizing one of the nobility," Vivian said.

"You'd be surprised at how inept he is, Vivian. If he can find his way to work every morning without stumbling over his own feet, then I'm not just impressed I'm amazed," Arthur said as he suddenly appeared behind Merlin.

"Arthur, I'm so glad that I've finally found you at last. I've been trying for what seems like forever. Your servant here certainly wasn't any help. He actually mistook me for someone named Jenny and acted as if he were a friend of mine. The nerve! As if I would ever be friends with a servant," Vivian said in disdain.

Arthur looked troubled by this as he said, "Some servants aren't so bad, Vivian. You can't judge them all based upon one idiot."

"Thanks a lot," Merlin muttered under his breath.

"I'm surprised to find such an attitude coming from a king of all people, Arthur. Never mind though. I'll let it slide just this once. Maybe I can change your mind after I marry you," Vivian said with a wicked smile on her face.

"What?" Arthur asked in surprise.

"Didn't you know? I thought that my messenger would have told you, but apparently he's just as incompetent as your servant is. I've come here to ask for your hand in marriage, Arthur," Vivian said.

"Vivian, I'm sorry but you've come all of this way for nothing. I like you, but I'm not in love with you. I have no interest in marrying you whatsoever," Arthur said firmly.

"Maybe I'll just have to change that then," Vivian said with a smile.

"Vivian, I don't want to marry you," Arthur said firmly.

"Really? Why is that then? Give me one good reason why you're not interested in me," Vivian said stubbornly.

Without thinking, Arthur said, "I can't marry you because I'm already in love with someone else."

Merlin and Vivian both looked at him in shock as he said this. Arthur's face turned red immediately, and Merlin knew that it wasn't a lie. Sophia had been right! Arthur had a girlfriend.

"Who is she? I'm sure that I'm better than her whoever she is. I'm more than a match for anyone," Vivian said.

"She's no one that you'd know," Arthur said nervously.

"Is she anyone that I'd know?" Merlin asked with a mischievous grin.

"Shut up, Merlin," Arthur said as he started to develop a headache.

"Show her to me," Vivian said.

"Vivian, I'd rather not discuss my private life with you," Arthur said.

"I'm not leaving until I meet this woman and get a chance to show you just how much better I am than her," Vivian said defiantly.

"Fine. I'll bring her out here, and then you'll see just how useless it is to try to change my mind about her," Arthur said.

"We'll just see about that," Vivian said.

Arthur practically ran away from Vivian with Merlin fast behind him. Neither of them wanted to stay around the conceited princess for long if they could help it.

"Do you think it would be wrong if I asked Cara to turn her into a toad?" Arthur joked.

Merlin actually smiled at that as he said, "I think if you asked her to do that, she'd probably punch you in the face. She's still trying to live down her past."

"It wouldn't be that bad. It would just be for a day or two until I could take her and dump her in some pond somewhere and get her out of my hair," Arthur said.

Merlin loved it that he was talking about magic so openly like this. It made him wonder if maybe now could finally be the right time to tell him about his magic at last.

"So who is she?" Merlin asked instead. He still wasn't completely sure about telling him yet.

"That's none of your business," Arthur said.

"I thought that we were going to bring her to see Vivian," Merlin said confused.

"I'm going to bring someone to see Vivian alright. It just won't be the real girl," Arthur said.

"Why not? Is she ugly?" Merlin joked.

Arthur's face clouded with anger as he said, "No, she's not. I just don't want to subject her to Vivian's pointless games. Who can I get to take her place?"

"Cara's off limits," Merlin said automatically.

"It's not like it would be for real. It's just until Vivian leaves," Arthur said.

"What's the matter, Arthur? Are you ashamed of me?" Morgause said as she came up to them with a furious look on her face.

Merlin's eyes popped out of his head as he said, "Morgause? You and Morgause?"

Apparently Arthur really had completely gotten over his hang-ups about magic. He realized now that falling for Morgause must have had a lot to do with that.

"No, it's not that. It's just that, well, you did just try to take over the entire kingdom. That would kind of make it hard for some people to accept you as their new Queen. I wanted to get them used to seeing the real you for a while first before I tell them about us. I want them to discover just how wonderful that you really are so that they don't turn on you when I finally show you off to the world," Arthur said.

Morgause began to smile as she said, "You certainly know how to make being kept hidden sound almost sweet, don't you? You're good."

"Not as good as you are," Arthur said as he kissed her.

Merlin turned away from this display of affection with a shocked look on his face. Morgause? He never would have guessed her in a million years!

"So you're really going to pretend to be dating my mother?" Morgause asked with a wrinkled up nose.

"Can you think of anyone else who would go along with me on this?" Arthur asked.

"How about her?" Morgause asked as she pointed to Sophia.

"Good idea. She is a noble after all," Arthur said as he ran after Sophia.

"You and Arthur?" Merlin asked Morgause as soon as Arthur left.

"Why are you so shocked for, Merlin?" Morgause asked.

"You did just try to overthrow him and destroy his kingdom not too long ago," Merlin said.

"I can see why Arthur was so reluctant to tell anyone about us now judging by your reaction. That wasn't the real me, Merlin. Or do you think that my mother was really as evil as she was when you first met her?" Morgause said.

Merlin had to admit that she had him there as he said, "I'm sorry. You're right. I know that Cara is definitely not that evil person that she used to be. It's just that well you and Arthur just never even came into my mind when I thought about who his girlfriend could be. I actually thought that it might be Freya. He seems to like her."

"He does but not in that way. I think that he feels more like a brother towards her. He's all protective towards her because of her curse," Morgause explained.

After Arthur explained his plan to Sophia, she said, "I can't do that. I'm sorry, Arthur, but I just can't."

"Why not? It'll only be for a few days at the most until I can drive her out of here by convincing her that I'm not interested in her, and I never will be. It's not like it'll be for real," Arthur said.

"I can't. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Sophia said in tears as she ran away.

"Soph? What's wrong?" Arthur asked.

"She's been acting funny like that all day. I'm worried about her," Merlin said.

"Well, it looks like you're going to have to parade me out in front of Miss Vivian after all, doesn't it?" Morgause said.

Arthur smiled as he said, "Yeah, you're right. I just didn't want anyone to say anything to you. You don't deserve that. What you did wasn't your fault."

"She's probably never even heard of me. Come on. Let's go before you start going to the bar looking for another replacement for me," Morgause joked.

"Shut up," Arthur said with a smile as he kissed her.

The two of them walked off toward Vivian hand in hand as Merlin still looked at them in shock saying, "Arthur and Morgause?"

As soon as Vivian looked at Morgause, she became instantly jealous. Smoke practically came out of her ears as she became furious. Arthur smiled at Vivian's anger and hoped that it meant that she might be leaving soon.

"I can't understand for the life of me why Arthur would be interested in you. I mean you're not that great looking. You're alright I suppose. Also and you'll have to pardon me for saying this, but you seem to be a tad bit too common to be the love interest of a king," Vivian said.

Morgause gritted her teeth through her fake smile as she said, "At least I'm not rude and totally lacking in manners. I suppose good breeding doesn't count for everything, does it?"

"Well, I never!" Vivian said insulted.

"I know and that's the problem. It's about time that someone told you off," Morgause said.

Arthur beamed at Morgause with pride and tried not to laugh. Now he knew that she would make a perfect Queen someday. Maybe he could get her to handle all of his meetings with people like Vivian from now on. It would certainly make his life a lot easier.

"If this is the kind of person that you want as your Queen then you can have her. I'm staying the night, and then I'm going home. I never want to see you again," Vivian said as she stormed off in a huff.

"You really are wonderful," Arthur said as he kissed Morgause out in the open for the first time.

"You're just now finding that out, are you? You're a bit slow, aren't you?" Morgause joked.

"I've been saying that for a long time now," Merlin muttered.

"I'm sorry. What was that?" Arthur asked.

"Nothing. Just talking to myself that's all," Merlin said.

"If I hear you just talking to yourself like that again, I might just have to make you scrub the floors for the entire castle. Then I'll probably make you go back and do it again just to make sure that you did it right the first time," Arthur said.

"There's no need for that, Arthur. He gets the point," Morgause said.

"I wonder sometimes. I think that Merlin's too thick to get anything most of the time," Arthur said.

Merlin started to say something sarcastic in response to him, but Morgause quickly put her hand over his mouth and glared at him as she mouthed to him 'Quit while you're ahead.'

As Merlin suddenly became silent, Arthur smiled at Morgause in appreciation as he said, "You actually got Merlin to shut up! Now I love you more than ever!"

Morgause looked at him in surprise as she said, "What? Say that again."

Arthur realized at that moment that he had never told her that he loved her. He decided to make up for that right now.

"I love you, Morgause," Arthur said.

"I love you too," Morgause said with a warm smile as she kissed him.

As Merlin smiled at them, he finally accepted the two of them being together. Morgause had just saved him from getting in major trouble, and she seemed to be keeping Arthur in a perpetual good mood these days. Maybe she wouldn't be such a bad Queen after all.

Later that night, Vivian quietly snuck into Arthur's bedroom. She wasn't giving up quite as easily as she had pretended to. The Sidhe had sent her here to marry Arthur as a part of their plan to destroy Camelot, and that was exactly what she was going to do. One way or another.

She almost screamed in anger as she saw Morgause lying next to Arthur in his bed. Then again she shouldn't have been too surprised she supposed. This was certainly going to make what she had to do that much harder though.

She silently mouthed the words of a spell, and then smiled as Arthur glowed for a moment after she finished it. It had worked. Tomorrow Morgause was going to get a big surprise when Arthur woke up. She tried very hard not to laugh as she left the bedroom.

She didn't realize that someone had been watching her the entire time and had anticipated her making this move. This same person quickly went into Arthur's bedroom and swiftly undid the spell that she had placed on him with a little help from a friend.

The next morning Vivian almost ran to Arthur's room as she eagerly waited to see what effect that her efforts last night had had on him. Just as she came to the door, Arthur opened it and said, "Hello, Vivian. I thought that you didn't want to see me again."

Vivian looked at him in shock as this was not the reaction that she had been expecting at all. She had no idea what could have gone wrong until she saw Morgause smiling at her with a knowing grin. She undid it! The little witch undid her love spell!

Vivian quickly pushed Arthur back into the room and closed the door behind her. Arthur looked at her in shock as she pulled out a Sidhe staff and pointed it at him.

"Vivian? What are you doing?" Arthur asked.

"I'm tired of playing around with you. Now I'm just going to kill you outright," Vivian said as her skin turned blue and her features briefly shimmered back and forth from human to Sidhe and back again.

"What are you?" Arthur asked in shock.

"She's been possessed by a Sidhe. You're a changeling, aren't you? How long have you been hiding inside of Vivian? Her entire life? That might explain her bad attitude and total lack of a personality," Morgause said.

"I was originally inside of another princess named Elena, but her father's pending agreement with your father to marry you was immediately canceled upon the event of Uther's death. The elders decided to have me possess the body of Vivian instead once we found out that you were a friend of hers," the Sidhe inside of Vivian said to Arthur.

"So that's why she's been acting so strange lately. The Vivian that I know was always full of herself and a little bit of a snob so that didn't change, but she had never shown any interest in marrying me before," Arthur said.

"You mean she really was that shallow even before being possessed? Why on Earth were you ever friends with her then?" Morgause asked.

"This may be hard for you to believe, but she had rare moments when she could be incredibly kind and sweet. It was almost as if that person were the real her struggling to get out. That was why I liked her. I liked the person that I saw on the inside," Arthur said.

"How about that? You actually have layers to you. Here I thought all of this time that you were just a big old prick and a little bit of a clotpole," Morgause joked.

"Have you been talking to Merlin?" Arthur asked suspiciously.

"Hello! I'm here to kill you. Does no one care about that?" Vivian asked in frustration.

"I'm not too concerned by it. Do you want to know why?" Morgause asked.

"No. Not really. It doesn't really matter anyway because you're both going to be dead soon," Vivian said as her staff began to glow.

She screamed in pain as she was blasted in the back by a burst of magic. As Vivian fell to the floor, the Sidhe inside of her came flying out; and another burst of magic hit it and blew it apart instantly.

Arthur looked at the Sidhe's attacker in shock as he realized that it was Sophia. Sophia had just saved his life.

"Thank you, Soph!" Arthur said as he smiled at her in gratitude.

"Don't mention it. I couldn't let anything happen to my favorite king, could I?" Sophia said as she kissed his cheek and hugged him.

"I'm sorry, Sophia," Morgause said.

"It's okay," Sophia said with a sad look in her eyes as she left the room.

"Why did you say that for?" Arthur asked Morgause.

"She just gave up her last chance to go home and become a Sidhe again for us, Arthur. All she had to do was to betray you, and she would have gotten her old life back," Morgause explained.

Arthur looked at her in surprise as he said, "That explains why she was acting so weird yesterday."

"Of course it does. Why do you think she was crying all day for? She knew that she was giving up her last chance to go home," Morgause said.

"I don't know whether to feel bad or glad about that. To be honest, I don't want her to go home. I like her. I've gotten used to having her around. She's like a part of my family now," Arthur admitted.

"She feels exactly the same way about you, Arthur. At least she does now. Until recently, she actually had a big crush on you," Morgause said with a grin.

"Really?" Arthur asked intrigued.

"What's that look on your face mean, Arthur?" Morgause asked in an extremely jealous tone.

"It means that I enjoy making you jealous, love," Arthur said as he began to laugh at her.

"You're terrible," Morgause said as she kissed him.

Vivian woke up in complete confusion as she found herself on the floor watching the two of them kiss and said, "What's going on? How did I get here, Arthur? I don't even remember coming to Camelot."

"It's a long story, Viv. I'll explain it to you later. Why don't you rest for now? You've been through a lot lately," Arthur said as he helped her to her feet.

"Thanks. I'm sorry if I did anything to borrow you. I must have been sick or something. I really don't remember anything that happened," Vivian said with a warm smile.

"It's okay. There's nothing for you to worry about," Arthur said gently.

Morgause could see what Arthur meant now when he said that Vivian could almost be like another person sometimes. This was certainly not the mean spirited woman from before. She followed Arthur as he led Vivian back to her room and smiled at how kind that he was to her as he helped the severely weakened girl lie down on her bed.

"You're just an old softy at heart, aren't you?" Morgause said to Arthur when they left Vivian's room together.

Arthur winked at her as he said, "Don't tell anyone. I have an image to maintain you know especially around Merlin. How else am I going to keep him in line without putting the fear of my horrible wrath into him sometimes?"

"You're impossible," Morgause said as she laughed at him, and the two of them kissed and embraced one another.

Merlin found Sophia crying outside of the castle gates sometime later after Morgause had told him the whole story about what Sophia had just done for Arthur. He came up silently behind her and said, "I'm sorry, Sophia."

Sophia embraced him with a smile as she said, "I'm not. Not really."

"Why do you keep crying then?" Merlin asked.

"It's because I know now that I'm going to have to die one day, Merlin. I never really believed that until today. I always thought that maybe someday that I might go home. Now I know that that's never going to happen," Sophia said.

"I'm sorry, Soph," Merlin said.

"The price for my immortality would have been too high to pay. I love all of you, and I would never just stand by and watch you die if I could prevent it. The elders underestimated the depth of my feelings for my new family, and they've paid the price for that," Sophia said.

"You shouldn't have to pay the price for doing the right thing though. I can't help you go back home, but I can help with something else," Merlin said.

"What do you mean?" Sophia asked.

Merlin led Sophia away from Camelot and as soon as it was out of sight, Kilgarrah appeared out of the sky and landed next to them. Merlin smiled as Kilgarrah breathed on Sophia with his magic flames. Sophia started to tingle all over, and she could feel herself transforming even as the dragon worked his magic on her.

Sophia was now a Sidhe once more, and she smiled with delight as she flew up into the air on her wings once more. She was immortal again!

"I've given you your original form back, young one. Not only that, but I've given you the ability to switch back and forth from Sidhe to human at will. I suspected that you might want to keep your human form. Was I wrong in this assumption?" Kilgarrah asked.

"No, not at all. I like being human. It's not as great as being a Sidhe, but it's not that bad either. Amazingly enough, I've actually gotten used to it. Thank you so much!" Sophia said as she changed back to human form and kissed the Great Dragon on the nose.

Merlin could swear that he saw the dragon blush as the ancient being said, "The pleasure was all mine, young Sidhe. It was the least that I could do after you saved Camelot with your incredible act of self-sacrifice."

"Thank you too, little brother," Sophia said as she kissed Merlin's cheek and hugged him.

"Why am I the little brother? I still don't understand that," Merlin said as he pretended to grumble.

"Oh, just shut up," Sophia said as she smiled happily.

Later that day as Vivian got up to leave after she had recovered her strength, she found Merlin working in the horse stalls and walked up to him with a huge smile on her face. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly as she giggled at the shocked expression on his face.

"Princess? What's going on? I thought that you couldn't stand me," Merlin said.

"That was the Sidhe talking. I've always been very fond of you myself, Merlin. Why else do you think I knocked Nimueh out for you and erased her memory?" 'Vivian' said with a grin.

"Jenny! It is you. I knew it," Merlin said as he hugged her back.

"It turns out that I was Vivian all along. I came here to check up on you after Blodeuwedd attacked me for helping you, and I used the Chameleon Arch to turn myself human in order to hide myself from her. The Arch evidently made a local king think that I was his daughter in order to give me an excuse to be around Arthur and befriend him. I've been trying to find the proper version of you that matched up to me for some time now. Just as I finally do, I run into the Sidhe; and they possess me. If not for Sophia, they would have used me to undo everything that I started. I'm so glad that she stayed on your side," Jenny explained.

"Don't worry so much about me. I'm doing okay so far, Jen. Cara and I have been helping Arthur to hold Blodeuwedd and the Triple Goddess back and kept them from destroying Camelot so far. I've even been thinking of telling him about my magic so that I can help him more. He wants me to recommend to him who should run this new magic school that he's been thinking about, and I wanted to say me. Should I do it?" Merlin asked.

"Yes, of course you should. He's talking about marrying Morgause, a magic user, now. Why not do it? Don't let your fear hold you back any longer. Tell him, Merlin," Jenny said.

"Thanks, Jen. For everything. Why did you help me like this anyway?" Merlin asked curiously.

"I hate sad endings. I always have. You lost your brother, Merlin. That's how it was originally going to end with Arthur dead. I hate seeing people lose their family. Trust me on that. So I decided to give you another chance. I'm so glad that I did. Don't blow it. Tell him the truth," Jenny encouraged him.

"I will. I'm going to do that right now as a matter of fact. So will I see you again as either Jenny or Vivian?" Merlin asked with a smile.

"I'll be around. I've made it my personal mission to keep an eye out for you especially since that horrible flower woman decided to attack me on my honeymoon. See you later, Merlin," Jenny said as she kissed Merlin on the cheek and vanished in a burst of golden energy.

"I'll truly never get used to that. Well, here goes," Merlin said as he went to find Arthur.

He found him in the courtyard supervising some knights in training. He was glad to see Morgause with him. That gave him more confidence to tell him with her there since he knew that she would back him up if Arthur took it the wrong way.

Morgause smiled at him as she could tell from the look on his face that he was finally about to tell his secret to Arthur at last. She gave him the thumbs up behind Arthur's back to encourage him.

"Arthur, I have a recommendation about who should run the magic school," Merlin said.

"You're a little late, Merlin. You said you'd give it to me yesterday. Naturally, I'm not surprised though. You're always late in finishing up everything that I assign you to do," Arthur said.

"Arthur, I think that I should run the magic school," Merlin spat out before he could lose his resolve.

"You? Why? You don't have magic. You don't know the slightest thing about it," Arthur said in confusion.

"Actually, that's not exactly true," Merlin said with a grin as he chanted a spell and levitated a sword off of the ground and into his hand.

Arthur looked at him in shock for a while and was rendered completely speechless. Merlin began to wonder if a chopping block might await him in the future until Arthur opened his mouth again and completely shocked him with his answer.

"You mean that you have magic, and you're still this lousy of a servant?" Arthur asked with a smile.

**Next: Now that Arthur finally knows about Merlin's magic, Merlin starts trying to convince him that he should be the new head of the magic school. Will Arthur give Merlin the job? What other position could Arthur be considering Merlin for that he's not even aware of yet? **


	12. The Challenge

CHAPTER 12

I do not own Merlin and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE CHALLENGE

"Well? How about it?" Merlin asked Arthur as he stood there waiting patiently for his answer.

"How about what?" Arthur asked as he tried to keep a smile off of his face.

"The head of the magic school!" Merlin said in irritation.

"Oh, that. Well, just because you have magic doesn't make you automatically the head of the magic school, Merlin. I mean you'll have to prove yourself first, won't you?" Arthur said with a mischievous grin.

"You're going to make me suffer first before you tell me, aren't you?" Merlin said with a sigh.

"Yes, I certainly am. You should have told me, Merlin," Arthur said with a hurt tone in his voice.

"I was afraid. I didn't know how you would react. I mean I could have been . . . ," Merlin trailed off not wanting to finish the rest of that sentence as he looked away from Arthur.

"Never. I never would have done that," Arthur said firmly as he briefly displayed a rare moment of emotion for Merlin.

Merlin smiled at him in appreciation for that remark as he said, "I'm sorry. I should have told you."

"Apology accepted. You still have to prove yourself though. I have to know just how good you are. I think I'll make you and the other magic users compete in some kind of contest. That way I can't be accused of showing favoritism towards you if you do somehow manage to become the head of the school," Arthur said.

"Somehow I don't think anyone will ever accuse you of showing favoritism towards me about anything," Merlin said.

"I have no idea what you mean by that," Arthur said with a grin.

"Sure you don't. So what's this contest going to be all about?" Merlin asked.

"I don't know yet. Give me time to think of something really good," Arthur said as a very evil smile spread across his face.

"Oh, joy! I can hardly wait," Merlin said sarcastically. Knowing Arthur it would probably involve having to walk across burning coals or something equally painful or humiliating.

"I'll let you know what I come up with soon, Merlin. I'll be sure to give you something good," Arthur said as he walked away with a sinister laugh.

"Oh, great! I am so not looking forward to this," Merlin said as he put his head in his hands.

"What's the matter, little brother? Arthur tormenting you again?" Sophia asked from behind him with a giggle. 

"Yes, just like always. I thought that if I told him that I had magic that I would suddenly gain some more respect, and he'd treat me differently from now on," Merlin said.

"Have you ever met Arthur before? You should have known that was never going to happen," Morgause said with a warm smile as she came over to him.

"I can dream, can't I?" Merlin said.

"That's all it is, Merlin. A dream. He's never going to stop picking on you. It's too much fun for him," Morgause said.

"Did Arthur actually say that?" Merlin asked.

"No, but I can tell. I see the look on his face when he's doing it. He enjoys putting you through torture. Just like all brothers enjoy tormenting each other to show their affection. It's a guy thing I think," Morgause said.

"It's not just a guy thing. I enjoy tormenting Merlin too. It's fun," Sophia said.

Merlin looked at her with daggers in his eyes as Sophia giggled. She gave him an affectionate hug as she said, "I still love you though. Arthur does too. He just won't ever admit it."

"It makes me wonder what he'd do to me if he hated me," Merlin said with a shudder.

Cara came walking up to them with an eager look on her face as she said, "Arthur told me about this new magic challenge. He wants me to participate in it. He said that I was his first choice for the magic school until you told him about your secret. He wants us to prove to him who's the best."

"Well, I'd say that's obvious. I am. I'm a full Sidhe now. So you might as well give that job to me," Sophia said with a wink.

"Wait a minute. Cara was a High Priestess. She's not exactly a slouch," Merlin said proudly.

"You're going to win, Merlin. You're much more powerful than I am. You're growing in power more and more every day," Cara said as she showed just as much pride in Merlin as he had in her.

"You never know. I might win. I did hold my own against both of you at once after all," Morgause said.

Merlin and Cara both stared at her in anger as she quickly said with a nervous laugh, "Not that I'm proud of that. I'm just saying that I'm powerful. That's all."

Cara shook her head at her with a small smile on her face as she said, "You were pretty good. That's true."

"You were better though," Merlin said as he kissed Cara.

Morgana stood nearby silently listening as she heard them all talking. The more that she listened the worse that she felt. Finally, she just looked down at the ground sadly. Merlin noticed this and silently brought this to Cara's attention. Cara immediately went over to her to see what was wrong.

"What's wrong? Did the bracelet I gave you not work? Are you still having those dreams?" Cara asked in concern.

"It's just that I feel so inadequate. You've all got such great power and perfect control of it. I can't even control my visions so I can get a decent night's sleep without your help. I'm so useless," Morgana said in a depressed voice.

"Stop that! You are not. You just have to learn how to control it. You will eventually. That's why this magic school is such a great idea. It will help you and everyone like you to learn and grow. You're going to be a powerful sorceress one day, Morgana. You'll be more powerful than I am. In fact, I bet you'll be just as powerful as Merlin someday. You'll be the one teaching me a few things," Cara said with a warm smile as she hugged Morgana.

"Do you think so?" Morgana asked as her mood suddenly brightened.

"I know so. Don't worry about it, Morgana. You'll get there," Cara said.

Freya suddenly inserted herself into the conversation as she said, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude. I just happened to overhear you all talking about the magic school. I was just wondering if maybe I could help out at the school once it gets started up. I know a little bit about magic. Maybe I could be an instructor?"

"Maybe. You'll have to show us what you can do first. None of us have even seen you do a spell yet," Cara said.

"Maybe I'll enter the contest. I know I won't win, but at least I'll show everyone what I can do that way," Freya said.

"Why wait? Can't you show us just a little spell right now while we're all here together?" Merlin asked.

"Okay. I'm good at water magic. I'll show you some of that," Freya said.

She pointed at a bucket full of water lying on the ground and chanted a quick spell. As her eyes glowed, the water quickly formed into the shape of a man. This water being then bowed to the others before he quickly assumed a fighting stance.

Freya smiled as she said to Merlin, "Go ahead. Fight him."

"What? You mean he can fight?" Merlin asked in amazement.

"He's an extension of my will. He'll do whatever I tell him to do. Try him out," Freya encouraged him.

Merlin quickly went to find two swords and hesitantly gave one to the water being. Then the two of them began to sword fight. Merlin was amazed at how good the water being was. He was easily holding his own against Merlin as they tested each other.

"How are you doing this? Is he getting this from you? Are you good at sword fighting?" Merlin asked.

"I don't know a thing about it. I'm getting it from you. I formed him in your image. He knows everything that you do. That's why he's matching you blow for blow," Freya said with a grin.

Merlin looked at her in awe as he said, "I'm glad you're on my side. Why didn't you ever show any of us this?"

"I'm not as good as you all are. To be honest, I feel a little inadequate next to the rest of you," Freya said shyly.

"That's crazy. You've just created a being out of water who can fight with a sword. That's pretty good in my book," Merlin said.

"You think so?" Freya said happily.

"I know so. If I'm put in charge of the school, you're definitely going to be an instructor there," Merlin said.

"Thank you!" Freya said as she hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek.

Then as she realized what she was doing her face turned red with embarrassment, and she quickly let go of Merlin as she said, "Sorry. I'm just really happy."

"It's okay. I'm just glad to get to talk to you for more than five seconds. You're usually so shy," Merlin said as he smiled at her.

"Sorry. I'll try to talk to all of you a little more often. It's just that I have trouble being around people ever since . . . my curse," Freya said.

"It's okay, Freya. We're all friends here. You don't have to worry about any of us judging you," Cara said gently.

"I know. It's just hard for me to get used to I guess. I think I will join the contest. Maybe it'll help me to get over that," Freya said.

Gwen came walking up to Freya then with a huge smile on her face as she said, "I was just watching that little fight between Merlin and your water man. That was amazing!"

Freya looked away shyly as she said, "Thank you."

"No, I mean it. It was just amazing. I wish that I could do things like that. I have to admit that I'm a little jealous," Gwen said.

"Really? You're jealous of me?" Freya said as she looked at her in surprise.

"Yeah. I'd love to be able to do something like that. I could use a little help sometimes in my job," Gwen said.

Merlin could see Gwen slowly drawing Freya out of her shell, and he was glad. He hoped that the two of them would become good friends. Merlin and the others all liked Freya, but so far none of them really knew her as well as they would like due to her reluctance to share anything about herself. He could only hope that that was about to change now.

Gaius was passing by on his way to perform an errand when he stopped to smile at this informal gathering of all of the known magic users in Camelot. He quickly took Merlin aside as he said, "Why are all of you just standing around here for? Shouldn't you at least be doing some work for Arthur, Merlin? You are still his manservant after all, magic or no magic."

"I'm waiting for him to come back and tell me what his contest will be about. After I show him what I can do, I'm sure that I'll have a new job before the day is over with. I'll never have to scrub the floors, polish his armor, or clean out the stables ever again. Then again knowing Arthur I wouldn't put it past him to make me do all of that anyway even if he does make me the head of the magic school," Merlin said.

Gaius laughed at him as he suggested, "Just go back to your regular job until Arthur decides what he's going to do. It'll keep your mind occupied until then if nothing else."

"I guess you're right. I'll do it one more time for old time's sake. I wonder who he'll get to do this job after me. I bet they won't be treated half as badly as I was whoever they are," Merlin said.

"Arthur actually asked me about that. He wanted to know if I could recommend someone to replace you," Gaius admitted.

"Really? Yes! That job is mine!" Merlin said smugly.

"Either that or he's just going to fire you from your old one," Gaius said with a chuckle.

Merlin frowned at him as he said, "Don't even think about it, Gaius. He's got to make me the head of the school. He just has to. I could help Morgana so that she doesn't feel so powerless anymore, and I could actively go out across the kingdom finding new sorcerers and bring them here to help them too. Instead of making them our enemies like Uther did, we could make them our greatest defenders. Can you imagine that? We'd have sorcerers working side by side with the knights and fighting for Camelot together. We could ensure that there would be a new golden age for Albion in no time with an army like that."

"That actually sounds like a good idea. I'm really surprised that it came from you, Merlin. It must be a fluke," Arthur said behind him.

"So what do you think about it?" Merlin asked.

"I like it. I won't be fighting alongside you though. I'll fight with Morgause instead. If I fought next to you, you'd probably wind up accidentally blowing me up or turning me into a toad or something. I'm sure that you're just as bad at magic as you are at being a manservant," Arthur said disdainfully.

"I'll show you what I can do if you'll ever tell me what your little contest is. You'll see exactly how powerful that I really am. I've been saving you constantly for a while now, and you never even knew it," Merlin said indignantly.

"Alright, Merlin, I'll just give you a chance to put your money where your mouth is then. I finally have a challenge ready for you and everyone else with magic to try. Whoever wins it will become the head of the magic school automatically," Arthur said.

"That sounds good to me. What is it?" Merlin asked in anticipation.

Arthur looked at him with a devilish look in his eyes as he said, "I will give the job to whoever can beat all of my knights together at once just using magic. There are no weapons allowed. You have to beat all of the knights of Camelot at once by yourself just using magic."

"All of them?" Merlin asked in shock.

"All of them including me," Arthur said with a sinister smile.

"On second thought, I think I'll just sit this contest out," Freya said in a terrified voice behind Merlin.

"What are the rules? I mean it's obviously not going to be a fight to the death," Merlin said with determination in his voice. He wasn't going to give up on this no matter what.

"No, of course not. I've told the knights to not use lethal force. They will, however, be doing everything else that they can short of killing you. They'll hurt you, Merlin. They can hurt you without killing you, you know? Trust me when I say that they won't be holding back. I've told them not to. You can be sure that I won't hold back. Still want to try my challenge?" Arthur asked.

"If I do and I win, I'll be the head of the magic school?" Merlin asked.

"Yes," Arthur said without hesitation.

"I'll never have to be a manservant again?" Merlin asked hesitantly.

"Yes. No more cleaning things for you. I'll find someone who actually knows what they're doing instead," Arthur confirmed.

"I'll do it," Merlin said instantly.

"Merlin, think what you're saying. It will be you alone against Arthur and all of the knights at once with only your magic to protect you. Are you really sure that you want to do this?" Gaius asked in alarm.

"If it means that I'll never be a manservant and have to do things like clean stables or dress Arthur ever again, then my answer to that is yes, yes, and yes! That's worth any amount of pain that I'll have to go through," Merlin said.

"You really are ungrateful, Merlin. Here I am giving you a great job with great benefits, and you make it sound like torture and drudgery," Arthur complained.

"Great job?! What benefits?" Merlin spat out.

"Of course there are benefits. You get to accompany me on my journeys and meet all sorts of interesting people. Lots of people would kill to get a good job like that," Arthur said.

"Really? Where are they? I'll give it to them for free," Merlin said with a smirk.

"Ungrateful," Arthur said as he shook his head at him and Gaius tried very, very hard not to laugh.

"I'm ready whenever you are," Merlin said.

"I'll let you go first in the challenge then. Then when you fail, I'll let Cara go next," Arthur said.

"I'm not going to fail. You'll see. By the way, when I get this job do I get to appoint whoever I want to be the instructors and run the school?" Merlin asked.

"Yeah, pending my approval, of course," Arthur said.

"Oh, well, I kind of already offered Freya a job as an instructor there," Merlin admitted.

"I'll agree to that. I saw her little stunt with the water. She's good. You're getting a little ahead of yourself though, aren't you? You haven't even gotten the job yet, and you're already making decisions about it. Talk about being overconfident!" Arthur said.

"I'm just that good!" Merlin said smugly.

"We'll see, Merlin. I'm so going to enjoy this. Meet me at the courtyard," Arthur said.

Merlin raced to the courtyard to find a huge army of knights waiting for him. There was Lancelot, Sir Leon, Gwaine (who had gotten the job of knight after all), Elyan (Gwen's brother who had also become a knight), Percival (who Lancelot had recommended as a knight), and many, many others that Merlin had seen around from time to time but had never found out their names. As he was quickly surrounded by them on all sides and had to endure their icy cold stares while they waited on Arthur's order to strike, Merlin had to finally admit to himself that maybe this hadn't been one of his better ideas.

As Arthur arrived and took his place at the head of the knights, he warned, "This is your last chance, Merlin. If you want to back out, now is the time. Once I give the word, they won't stop until they have you lying unconscious on the ground."

"I understand. Let's do this," Merlin said.

"Ready?" Arthur asked.

Merlin took a deep breath and said, "Ready."

"Attack! Remember, no lethal blows!" Arthur shouted.

The knights all surged forward, and Merlin started to call upon the power of his magic as he openly showed exactly who and what he was to the entire kingdom at once for the first time. He shoved the first knights to get within reach of him aside with a powerful telekinetic push as he flung them all into the air at once.

Arthur had to duck as several of his knights went flying by him and landed hard on the ground behind him. He smiled with admiration as he said, "That's not bad. Let's just hope that you can keep this up."

"Try me," Merlin said even as he met the next wave of his attackers with a massive whirlwind spell that sent them flying into the audience that had gathered to watch them. Luckily, Cara caught them with her own telekinetic power and redirected their fall away from the innocent bystanders.

"Thanks, honey!" Merlin called out.

"You're going to have to work on that sort of thing if you want to work for me, Merlin. We can't have knights flying around falling on top of people," Arthur lectured him. Even as he said this, more and more of his knights fell to one spell of Merlin's after another as Merlin alternated between setting their armor on fire, making them so heavy that they could no longer move, and commanding huge armies of birds to fly in from out of nowhere in order to attack them.

"Hey, I've never had to fight with an audience around before! I'm not used to it. Usually, I fight in secret," Merlin complained while he froze time around several knights at once so that they all stood around as stiff as statues.

"It seems like you're just as terrible a sorcerer as you are a manservant, Merlin. Do you really think that you should be teaching others? It seems more like it should be the other way around," Arthur taunted him even as he walked past his frozen knights with his mouth hanging open in astonishment.

"Don't worry. They won't stay that way for long. It only lasts a few minutes," Merlin said.

"Good. I was wondering about what would happen if their wives found out. If you think fighting them is hard, you should have to face the wrath of some of their wives sometime. They really let you have it when something happens to their husbands that they don't like. My face still hurts from some of my talks with them," Arthur joked.

The knights were quickly becoming tired of being embarrassed in front of the king, and they all seemed to decide at once to make one massive final surge against Merlin in order to put him down once and for all. As they all started to run at Merlin on all sides at the same time, he quickly vanished under a sea of bodies.

Cara looked down in fear as she wondered if this was it. Would this be the end of Merlin's dreams? She had to admit to herself that she was also worrying if Merlin would be badly hurt by this. She had to fight the urge to go down there and attack the knights herself with every bit of her willpower. She really wanted to wade into the middle of the battle and pull all of them off of him until she was sure that he was alright.

She needn't have worried though. The knights were all suddenly flung off of Merlin in one massive telekinetic push as they all went flying away from him in all directions at once. This time Merlin made sure that none of them landed anywhere near the audience. He didn't want to hear any more griping from Arthur about it.

Now Merlin stood face to face with Arthur in triumph as all of the knights were currently either frozen or incapacitated in one way or another. He had won!

Arthur saw Merlin's expression and shook his head as he said, "Not yet, Merlin. You still haven't beaten me yet."

"Let's get this over with then. I've been waiting to do this for a long time now!" Merlin shouted.

"So have I. I'm really, really going to enjoy this!" Arthur said with an eager look on his face.

He swung his sword at Merlin even as the warlock ducked out of the way and started controlling some of Arthur's unconscious knights like puppets as he sent them against him. Arthur found himself being attacked by his own men as they quickly cut him off from Merlin.

"I'm not going to be defeated like this! I won't be beaten by my own men," Arthur said.

He managed to crawl underneath the mindless zombies gathered all around him and started running at Merlin yet again. This time Merlin created a solid block of ice directly in front of Arthur that he barely managed to keep from running right into. Arthur managed to swerve out of the way of the huge wall though and instead ran right into a newly created pit of quicksand that Merlin had conjured next to him instead.

"You fell right into my trap, Arthur. Feel like giving up now?" Merlin said as he mocked him.

Arthur made several unprintable comments as he slowly tried to make his way through the quicksand, but he only wound up sinking deeper and deeper in it instead. He was already up to his waist by the time Merlin finally made it to him.

"It's over, Arthur. I've won. Admit it. Then I'll get you out," Merlin said.

Instead of giving up though, Arthur suddenly pulled Merlin right into the pit with him. Soon Merlin was up to his waist too even as Arthur continued to try to fight him even inside of the pit. Merlin had to move aside as much as he could while being trapped in quicksand as he avoided one blow of his after another. All of this fighting only made things worse for both of them though as they quickly sunk deeper into the quicksand as it went up to their necks.

Merlin looked at him in shock as he said, "You idiot! Now we're both stuck!"

Arthur sighed as he reluctantly said, "Okay, Merlin. Okay. I admit it. You win! Now get us out of here. Quickly!"

"I'll try. It's much harder to cast a spell when you can't move your hands," Merlin said.

"Stop complaining and just do it, Merlin!" Arthur shouted.

"You never change your attitude towards me no matter what I do, do you? You're still a huge prat!" Merlin said.

"Just get us out of here," Arthur said as he felt himself sinking even further up to his chin.

Merlin concentrated, and he slowly managed to use his magic to pull both him and Arthur out of the quicksand at once. As soon as they were safely out of it, he cast a spell that got rid of the pit as quickly as it came.

Arthur actually smiled at Merlin as he said, "Well, I guess you didn't do so bad."

I didn't do so bad? I beat your whole army!" Merlin said in disbelief.

"I know. It's just like I said. Not bad. Not good but not bad," Arthur said as Merlin sighed.

He was never going to get a real compliment from Arthur. Ever. He could see that now. He might as well give up trying.

Arthur turned to the audience and said, "I don't think that I even need to test any other candidates. Merlin's got the job. He's the new head of the magic school!"

As everyone cheered, Cara's eyes met Merlin's while they smiled at each other. Then Arthur shocked Merlin as he said, "He's also my new Court Magician."

Merlin looked at him in shock even as Arthur said, "Don't screw this up, Merlin."

Merlin shrugged. That was about as close to a compliment from Arthur that he was probably ever going to get. He'd take it.

**Next: Even as Merlin starts to make plans to set up his new school and starts hiring people for it, he gets his first test as Court Magician when the Triple Goddess sends yet another challenge Camelot's way. This time Merlin has to face Nimueh's replacement as High Priestess. Will Camelot be able to survive this newest threat to it when the new Priestess calls up an army of shades against it led by Arthur's father?**

**Oh, and I'm happy to tell you that I've just published my first book. It's called Shadows of the Past, and it's about a sorceress who is my version of a character from the Arthur legends who will be very familiar to Merlin fans who helps people with problems involving the supernatural. In her latest case, she finds herself having to protect the world from the ancient gods of mythology who have decided to destroy it. If you'd like to know about how to find it, please go to my profile or PM me about it. **


	13. A Father Till The End

CHAPTER 13

I do not own Merlin and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

A FATHER TILL THE END

Now that he didn't have to get up to do early morning chores for Arthur anymore as his manservant, Merlin didn't even bother to get up that next morning. Instead he was lying in his bed going over all of the possibilities in his mind about who he would hire for the magic school. So far all he knew for sure was that he was hiring Freya as an instructor and that he was certainly giving Cara and Sophia something, but other than that he had no clear ideas yet.

He also realized that he had no idea where the school was even going to be. Arthur had never said, and he wondered if he were leaving it up to him to find a place for it. If so, then he needed to start looking right away. It would have to be a very big place though to house all of the students who would have to live there. Where in the world would he find such a place?

He realized with a sigh that maybe his problems were just beginning instead of getting better when he left the manservant job. Maybe Arthur was having the last laugh after all. It would be just like him too!

He suddenly saw Cara materializing out of nowhere next to him on the bed with a huge smile on her face. She immediately started kissing him, and his worries quickly evaporated along with every other thought in his mind. For that moment, he was in bliss.

As soon as Cara pulled away from him, he said with a goofy grin on his face, "I really hope that you're the real Cara and not some kind of shapeshifter or I'm going to be in real trouble. Then again if you keep kissing me like that, I may not mind."

Cara punched him playfully in the arm as she said with a warm smile, "Shut up! I just wanted to come and congratulate you on your new job again. I know that I already have, but I just can't stop thinking about how proud I am of you. Well that and I wanted to know who you were considering hiring."

Merlin began to smile smugly as he asked, "You want me to hire you for something, don't you?"

Cara had a playful smile on her face as she said, "No, of course not. I was just curious that's all. I'd never try to influence you in any way."

Then she immediately proceeded to kiss him passionately for several minutes after which she pulled away and said with a grin, "I don't use my charms to get what I want. I'm just not that kind of a person. It's entirely up to you who to hire. I have nothing to do with it."

"Sure, Cara! Sure. I was already going to hire you for something, you know," Merlin said.

"I know. I just like having an excuse to kiss you. I noticed that you weren't complaining. Besides, you'd better hire me if you want to keep breathing," Cara joked.

"Now you're starting to sound like Nimueh," Merlin said with a chuckle.

Then he realized what he had said and immediately regretted it as he said, "I didn't mean . . ."

Cara cut him off by placing her finger on his lips as she said, "I know you didn't. Sometimes you just speak before you think. I'm going to have to cure you of that somehow. I wonder what I'll do."

Then she kissed him again, and Merlin found that he couldn't speak or think after she was through. Cara laughed as she said, "I guess that's one way of shutting you up, isn't it?"

At that moment, Sophia came into the room without even knocking as she had grown accustomed to doing since she and Merlin had practically become siblings. Her face immediately turned red with embarrassment as she saw Cara and Merlin lying there together kissing. They weren't really doing anything for her to be that embarrassed by, but they could have been. She would not have wanted to walk in on that. She would have to start knocking in the future if this were going to become a regular thing.

She silently started to leave without speaking when Cara said, "It's okay, Sophia. You can stay. We weren't doing anything much."

"Not doing much? You call that not doing much? I still can't remember what I was thinking about before you literally just popped up out of thin air," Merlin said with a huge smile on his face.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude. I didn't even think about you and Merlin being in here together. You've never done anything like that before," Sophia said apologetically.

"Maybe I should start," Cara said with a malicious grin on her face.

"That's fine with me," Merlin said happily.

"I'm definitely knocking from now on then," Sophia said with a giggle as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"So now that we're all thoroughly embarrassed what did you want to see me about?" Merlin asked.

"I just wanted to congratulate my little brother on winning the job that's all. I think it's wonderful. You're absolutely the best person for the job, and I can't wait to see you show your brilliance in who you pick to help you run the school," Sophia said.

Merlin shook his head at her shameless flattery as he said, "You want a job, don't you?"

"Please, Merlin! I'd love to work there. I can help you in so many ways plus I know about Sidhe magic. I can tell the students things that they won't find out anywhere else. Who else can offer you that? I bet no one knows as much about the Sidhe as I do. They can actually meet a living, breathing Sidhe and come away to tell about it. Not many people can say that," Sophia said.

"That's because most Sidhe aren't as nice as you are. I was already going to give you a job there, Soph. You didn't have to do that," Merlin said.

"Why didn't you tell me that from the start then?" Sophia asked in fake anger.

"I just like to hear you grovel," Merlin said with amusement.

After Sophia punched him hard in the shoulder, Merlin said, "Hey! I was just kidding!"

"I know. I just like to see you in pain. It's a big sister thing," Sophia joked as she gave him an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

"I still don't understand how you're the big sister," Merlin said as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Because I said so that's why," Sophia said.

"When did I become so whipped?" Merlin said with a pitiful expression on his face that made both women burst out laughing.

"Maybe we should both leave and let Merlin do some more thinking about things. He clearly hasn't made many decisions yet," Cara said.

"Wait. I wanted to talk to both of you about that very thing. I know that I want to hire both of you and Freya for the school, but I have no idea what for yet. I would also like to hire Morgause and Gaius for something, but I'm not sure if either of them would even be interested. I could really use their help though. Gaius could be invaluable in teaching the students about herbs and their uses in making potions. He's better at that then anyone. Morgause knows more about fighting techniques then the rest of us too. She could teach the students about non-magical combat. Should I approach them? Do you think that they'd even be interested? I still don't even know where the school should be. What place is even big enough to hold all of the people that I'm sure that we'll attract?" Merlin said as he started to pour out all of his concerns to them.

Cara and Sophia smiled at each other as they both realized how important that they had become to Merlin. The three of them had only been together for a few months, but they had already become inseparable.

Sophia smiled as she said, "I actually had an idea about that. There's an old cave a few miles from Camelot that's much bigger inside of it then you'd think it would be just from looking at it. It's filled with chamber after chamber, and each one is bigger than the one before it. There will be plenty of room there."

"If it's miles from Camelot though then how do we defend it? Are you sure that if it's that big that someone isn't living there already?" Merlin asked.

"I'm sure. No one lives there because it was closed off long ago by a rockslide. That makes it totally impervious to being invaded by anyone so that answers the defense question too," Sophia said.

"You used magic to get into it, didn't you?" Merlin asked.

"Yep, that's the only way that it can be entered. Any halfway decent sorcerer can get through a few feet of rock though with no problem, and if some of the newer ones can't then one of us can help them. That will defend the magic school from anyone but other magic users, and we can put a spell on the rocks themselves to protect against them. We can make it so that only those that we want to come in can pass through the rocks. So what do you think?" Sophia asked eagerly.

"Are you sure that there will be enough air in there?" Merlin asked.

"Sure. I tested it out myself. There's plenty of air everywhere. There must be small cracks that lead to the surface or something. Do you think that it's a good place for the school or what, Merlin?" Sophia asked impatiently.

"I like it. I want to see it first before I make a final decision though," Merlin said.

"Sure. I'll take you there right away if you want me to," Sophia said as her face broke out into a smile.

"How did you even think of using a sealed cave anyway? That's a really good idea," Merlin said impressed.

"It just shows you how clever that I am, doesn't it? You really need to give me a good position for that idea, don't you?" Sophia said with a hopeful look on her face.

"Alright, that's enough already. How about I make you not only the teacher of Sidhe Studies but also the Head Instructor? All of the others instructors at the school will be under your direct supervision," Merlin said.

"Really? They all have to do what I say?" Sophia asked with a mischievous grin.

"Within reason. Otherwise that's perfectly right. Of course the only instructor that I have so far is Freya. I think that she can teach Elemental Studies. Maybe she could even teach more than that if I can ever get her to open up about how much that she knows," Merlin said.

Cara screamed with joy and hugged Merlin so tightly that he couldn't breathe for a minute. She was surprisingly strong Merlin noted with a grimace. It must be because she was a full Sidhe now.

Sophia's smile faded though as she looked at Cara. Merlin could immediately see that she was already rethinking his job offer.

"What about Cara? Maybe you should give the Head Instructor job to her. I mean I appreciate it and all, but she's so much better at magic than I am," Sophia said.

Cara silently shook her head at her. She didn't want to take the job away from her after seeing how much joy that it had given to her.

"I know and that's why I'm giving her a higher position. She's going to be my partner and second in command in running the school. The two of us are going to be making all of the major decisions together, and she's going to be running the school whenever I have to do something else for Arthur which will probably happen a lot since I'm the Court Magician too now. Basically, we're going to be running the school together. She'll tell everyone else what to do and help to run it from day to day. She'll probably wind up doing more than me," Merlin said with a grin.

"If history is any judge, then I'm sure that's true. Cara always does more work than you do," Sophia said with a chuckle.

"Now you're starting to sound like Arthur," Merlin said with a groan.

"That's because he's right. So who gets to be in charge of things if both you and Cara are busy?" Sophia asked hopefully.

"You do of course," Merlin said.

Sophia hugged him gratefully, and this made both Merlin and Cara laugh. She was so excited that she could barely contain herself.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Sophia said happily.

Merlin just shook his head at her. She was completely human now in her behavior despite being a Sidhe again and didn't seem to mind one bit that she had changed so much.

"You deserve it, Soph. Only the best for my little sister," Merlin said.

"I'm the big sister," Sophia said firmly.

"Whatever," Merlin said with a sigh.

Then he turned to look at Cara and saw complete love in her eyes for him. She kissed him even more passionately then she had before if that were possible. So much so that Sophia started to leave the room again.

"That's not necessary, Sophia. I'm sorry for embarrassing you. I just wanted to show Merlin how much that I appreciate what he did. He's wanted this school so much, and now he's given me such a huge part in running it. I know how important this is to you, Merlin. I won't let you down," Cara said.

"I know you won't. That's why I gave the job to you. I trust you more than anyone else in the world except for my parents, Gaius, and Sophia. You're the one person that I know for sure will be able to keep things going when I'm not around," Merlin said.

"Thank you, Merlin," Cara said gratefully.

Then Merlin and Cara heard Sophia crying and looked at her in surprise. She smiled at them as she said, "You trust me that much to put me on the same level as your family? I didn't realize that I meant that much to you. Thank you."

"Of course you mean that much to me. When you call yourself my sister, it's true. That's exactly who you are to me now. I thought that you knew that," Merlin said.

"I didn't. Not until now. I've felt that way for a long time about you though. I'm so glad that you feel the same," Sophia said in a voice filled with pure joy.

The two of them embraced as Cara watched them with satisfaction. This happy moment was rudely interrupted though when the three of them began to hear screams coming from outside. They raced out into the courtyard to see that Camelot was now filled with people who should not be there. Not because they were invaders or strangers but because they were all dead.

Merlin knew for certain that they were dead. That was because he recognized many of them just from his brief time here in Camelot. Some of them were knights who had fallen in battle or people who had become so sick that not even Gaius had been able to cure them. Most of them though were people who Uther had killed in his Purge. They had all returned now to the place where they had died.

"Merlin, can you tell me what in the world is going on here? Where are all of these dead people coming from and why?" Arthur asked in concern as he came running up to them.

It was Cara who answered him though as she said, "They're called Shades, Arthur. They're spirits who have been brought back from the dead by Necromancers to attack the living. They have no will of their own, and they can only do what the person who summoned them tells them to do."

"I knew I should have picked her instead of you. It was just more fun having all of the knights fight with you. They wouldn't have wanted to attack Cara anyway. Everyone likes her," Arthur said with a grin.

"Thanks a lot," Merlin said.

"So how do we kill these Shades?" Arthur asked.

"You can kill them just like you would a normal person, Arthur. Even if you recognize any of them, don't hesitate to attack them. It's not really them anyway. They remember their name but nothing else. It's not really them anymore. They're just a shadow of who they were. I'm afraid that I can't help you as much with them as I'd like. They're immune to magic," Merlin said.

"Wonderful. I'm starting to wonder again what I keep you around for. They don't have any special powers do they?" Arthur asked.

"No. They're just like regular people," Merlin reassured him.

"Well, this shouldn't be too hard then. All we have to do is kill them again," Arthur said confidently.

Then he saw his father walking among the Shades. He gasped in shock at first, and then his face turned red with anger as he said, "Why him? Why of all of the choices of who to bring back did they pick him? Whoever did this will pay!"

Suddenly Arthur was taken by complete surprise as a beautiful dark-haired woman in a long robe appeared right next to him with a huge grin on her face. Merlin immediately moved between Arthur and this new arrival to protect him as the woman started to laugh.

The mysterious woman continued to smile as she said, "Do you know that I honestly didn't even consider that your father would be raised along with everyone else? I just cast a blanket spell raising everyone who ever lived and died at Camelot. I have to admit that gaining Uther as one of my new slaves is an added bonus just for the look on your face alone. It's a masterstroke to my plan especially for this being my first time out."

"Who are you?" Merlin asked.

"My name is Lenore, and I'm the new High Priestess of the Triple Goddess, Emrys. I've been handpicked by them to replace your treacherous little girlfriend over there," Lenore said as she looked at Cara with disdain.

"Send the Shades back to their rest now or I'll show you no mercy," Merlin said.

"I don't want your mercy. All I want is your and Arthur's heads on a silver platter. I will reclaim Albion for the Triple Goddess and bring back the Old Religion to this land. Once I am done, the Triple Goddess will become the absolute rulers of this land once more just as they were once before," Lenore said.

"I'm afraid that that's not going to happen. Why can't they just accept a compromise? The law against magic has been dropped, and now there is going to be a magic school for everyone with magic to attend and learn about their powers. Isn't that enough to please them?" Merlin asked.

"No. They want the old ways to be completely restored to this land once more exactly as they were in the past. Then and only then will they finally be pleased at last. There is no compromise that you could possibly make that would stop them from destroying Camelot," Lenore said.

"Well, there goes that idea out the door. What about you? How do you feel about this? Do you really want to kill innocent people?" Merlin asked.

"Are we going to fight her, Merlin, or stand here and talk to her all day?" Arthur asked impatiently.

Cara quickly took Arthur aside and whispered, "So far the Shades aren't attacking. There has to be a reason for that. If there's a chance that we can somehow avoid bloodshed, don't you want to take it? That's what Merlin is trying to do."

Arthur silently nodded in agreement, but he still didn't like it. He was a man of action not diplomacy.

"No one is innocent who does not swear their complete and total allegiance to us. They deserve whatever they get for this worst of all crimes as a result," Lenore said in a cold voice.

"Really? Is that what you really think or just what you've been told to think? If you really believe that, then why are you hesitating?" Merlin asked.

Lenore now looked confused as she said, "I am not hesitating. My soldiers are right here at Camelot's very doorstep. The end of Camelot has come."

"Why aren't you attacking then? Could it be because you know deep down that this is wrong?" Merlin pressed her.

Lenore's expression began to soften as she said, "It is not wrong. The Triple Goddess must be obeyed, and they have deemed it to be right. I must do as they wish."

"You sound like you're trying to convince yourself more than you are me. Don't do this. You know that it's wrong. Join me and help the people of this land. We could work together to create a better world for everyone," Merlin implored.

"I cannot disobey. I have to do what they say," Lenore said.

"No, you don't. You're not like these Shades, Lenore. You have a will and mind of your own. You can choose to do something else with your life. Please fight them not just for us but for your own sake. Don't you want to do something more with your life than this?" Merlin asked.

"I know that I did, Lenore. That's why I turned on them. Their way leads only to death and destruction for everyone including you," Cara said.

"I turned against my own people as hard as that was for me because I knew that it was the right thing to do. I couldn't let them kill my friends. I hope that you have the courage to make the same choice," Sophia said.

Lenore began to look extremely upset and unsure of herself now. Even Arthur could tell that Merlin's tactics were beginning to work on her, and he smiled at his friend in encouragement. Maybe this diplomacy wasn't so bad after all.

Then things began to dramatically change as Uther's shade suddenly became much more than just a lifeless shadow. Uther began to glare at Arthur as he said, "Look what you've down, Arthur. I'm not gone for more than a few months, and you've already led this kingdom down the road to ruin. You've betrayed everything that I've ever stood for by embracing magic and accepting Nimueh and others of her kind."

"Morgana is one of 'their' kind too, Father, or do you think that I should have killed her too?" Arthur asked.

"Morgana is completely innocent. She doesn't even know how to use her magic and doesn't even attempt to. All that she wants is to be rid of her nightmares that come about as a result of magic," Uther said.

"Are you saying that as the King that you were or as her father? You sound like you're saying that in Morgana's case that her having magic doesn't make her evil in and of itself and that only what she does with it should count," Arthur said.

"That is true," Uther said.

"If you really believe that, then you're the biggest hypocrite that I've ever met in my life. I could make the same case about most of the people who you killed in your Purge. What you did was wrong, and you know it," Arthur said.

Merlin looked at Arthur with gratitude and was suddenly very proud of him for saying this. For once, Arthur was actually acting like a king instead of a prat.

"How dare you talk like that to me? I would rather see Camelot completely destroyed then to have it corrupted and made a mockery of like you're doing!" Uther shouted in anger.

Then he turned to the other shades in his fury and shouted, "Destroy everything! Rip it all down to the ground and watch it burn!"

The Shades all rushed forward and started to attack Camelot at once. They were soon met by the knights in combat, and a violent battle had broken out right in the center of Camelot.

"No! You can't do this, Father!" Arthur protested.

"Destroy it all! Every last bit of it!" Uther shouted.

"What's happening?" Arthur asked in shock.

"Lenore was hesitating so the Triple Goddess gave Uther his mind back so that he would do the job for them. They knew that he would do it just out of spite for all of the changes that have been made here. They're manipulating him into destroying everything that he spent his whole life building," Merlin said.

"This is just insane. In order to stop them, I'm going to have to . . ." Arthur couldn't even finish the sentence because it was too painful for him.

"You're going to have to kill your father. I'm sorry," Merlin said in a compassionate voice.

"What about you? Can't you stop this?" Cara asked Lenore.

"I can't betray the Triple Goddess. This is just and right," Lenore said as if in a trance.

"Well, she's pretty much useless. Don't worry, Arthur. I'll take on Uther. You don't have to kill him," Cara said.

"No! We'll find another way. No one's killing him again. That's an order!" Arthur shouted.

Suddenly Morgana appeared out of nowhere and walked straight up to Uther before anyone could stop her. She stood in front of her father and said, "If you really believe that all magic is evil, then you must destroy me as well."

"Morgana, get away from him!" Cara shouted.

"I could never hurt you," Uther said in a gentle voice.

"No. There can't be two rules, one for me and one for everyone else. Either you believe that all magic users are evil just for having magic or they're not. There is no in-between. You have to have the courage to choose a side and stick to it. If you truly believe that all magic is bad, then you'll have to kill me, Father. Right here and now!" Morgana shouted.

"I can't," Uther said.

"Do it! Destroy me!" Morgana screamed.

Uther surprised everyone by suddenly embracing Morgana and saying, "I'm sorry. I'm going to make it right though. "

He looked at the other Shades and commanded, "All of you, stop what you're doing and go back to where you belong."

Then he and the other Shades all disappeared at once as they went back to their rest.

"I hate to sound like a complete idiot, but I have to ask yet again. What just happened?" Arthur asked in shock.

"Don't worry. You don't sound like any more of an idiot than usual, Arthur. The Triple Goddess couldn't convince Lenore to order the attack so they decided to play on Uther's hatred of magic and get him to do it. Morgana's appealing to his love of her backfired on them though and caused Uther to reject their plan. Uther finally broke the spell by choosing to send himself and the others back to eternal rest," Merlin said.

"He's going to be alright then?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, he's at peace now. Hopefully for good this time," Merlin said in a gentle tone.

"He went out doing what he always did. Defending the kingdom," Arthur said proudly.

"You give him more credit than I do. What he always did seemed to be for himself and not for the good of the kingdom. I do have to admit that it feels good to finally know that he actually did love me in the end. At least in his own fashion," Morgana said with a soft smile.

"What about you, Lenore? Will you follow Uther's example and reject them?" Merlin asked the newest High Priestess.

"I - I don't know," Lenore said in hesitation.

Merlin lightly grabbed her hand as he started to appeal to her once more. As he did so though, both he and Lenore started to scream at once as mental images of Merlin's life played out in front of both of their eyes.

Cara yanked Merlin's hand away from Lenore's even as Merlin said, "Who are you? How do you have all of my memories?"

"I don't know," Lenore said in complete confusion.

"What do you mean that she has your memories?" Arthur asked.

"I touched her hand, and I could suddenly see into her mind, Arthur. Only it wasn't her memories that I saw there. They were all mine. Every single one of them was one of my memories," Merlin said in an upset voice.

"That's not possible. She didn't have any memories of her own?" Cara asked.

"Not until today. Before today, her memories are all mine. It was as if she was created out of my own thoughts just a few hours ago. She knows everything that I know up until I woke up this morning. I don't understand how this could be possible," Merlin said in incomprehension.

"Merlin, are you saying that she's you somehow?" Arthur asked in surprise.

"I'm not sure. I don't know who she is or how. All I know is that she all of my memories and powers. She's like a copy of me in every way except for in appearance," Merlin said as he studied Lenore.

Lenore suddenly was woken out of her trance by this as she shouted, "I am not you! I'm my own person. I'm Lenore. I have nothing to do with you whatsoever!"

She then disappeared as she teleported out of the area leaving the others to look at each other in complete bewilderment. Merlin had absolutely no idea what was going on here, but he was about to find out.

Lenore meanwhile suddenly appeared in the middle of Ealdor and stood there crying until Hunith came up to her and said, "Can I help you? Are you lost?"

"Yes, so very lost. I don't know who I am or where I belong. All I know is that my name is Lenore. Can you help me?" Lenore asked as she looked at Hunith in despair.

"Of course I will. Just come with me. I'll give you something to eat and let you rest for a while until you figure things out," Hunith said in a warm voice.

"Thank you!" Lenore said as she smiled at her.

She felt as if she had finally found someone that she could trust at last. She would stay here for a little while until she could figure out the truth about who she was for herself.

Even as Hunith walked Lenore back to her house, she couldn't help but remember something that she had forgotten a long time ago. She had once considered naming Merlin Lenore if he had turned out to be a girl.

She shook her head and smiled to herself as she led the girl inside of her home. It must just be an odd coincidence. That's all.

That's all it could be. Right?

**Next: Who is Lenore and what connection does she have to Merlin? More importantly, whose side will she ultimately stand on in the war between Camelot and the Triple Goddess?**


	14. The Mystery of Lenore

CHAPTER 14

I do not own Merlin and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

THE MYSTERY OF LENORE

Hunith smiled at Lenore as she watched her peacefully sleeping in Merlin's old bed. She had only been staying with her for two days now, but she had already grown very fond of her. She had quickly found out that Lenore was a very sweet and kind person after she volunteered to help her with all of her household duties in appreciation for letting her stay with her, and Balinor was already her biggest fan. He constantly doted over her like she was his own child.

It made her wonder what life would have been like if Balinor would have been allowed to stay so long ago. Maybe they could have had a daughter just like Lenore. She sighed as she shook her head to clear away all such useless thoughts. That was over with now. At least she finally had Balinor back now, and she was extremely thankful for that despite all of the years that they lost.

The two of them had gotten married as soon as they could. They didn't have an elaborate ceremony or anything fancy. They just had a small simple ceremony with only Merlin, Cara, and Sophia in attendance. They didn't need to wait any longer to know that they belonged together. They had already waited long enough.

Up until Lenore arrived, the two of them had been living alone except for Aithusa. Now with Lenore there, the entire house seemed revitalized. It was almost as if a missing piece of them that they didn't even know that they had lost had been returned to them.

She wished that the girl would stay, but she knew that she wouldn't. She would eventually regain her memory and leave. While she was there though they could both pretend that she was their daughter and dream about what might have been. It was silly she knew, but it seemed to make Balinor happy. It certainly made her happier to have someone to look after.

"Is anything wrong?" Lenore asked as her eyes opened and she woke up.

Hunith knew that she had been staring at her for too long, and she had somehow sensed her watching her even in her sleep. She silently cursed herself for disturbing her.

"No, it's nothing, sweetheart. Go back to sleep," Hunith said in a gentle voice.

Lenore smiled as she said, "I wonder if my mother was as kind as you. I wish that I could remember her."

"You don't remember anything even after all of this time?" Hunith asked.

Lenore became suddenly fearful as she came to a decision. She was going to tell Hunith everything that she did remember.

"There's something that I didn't tell you. I don't want you to be afraid of me though. I just want you to know that I'd never hurt you," Lenore said.

Hunith looked at her oddly but nodded for her to continue.

Lenore told her everything that she remembered as she talked about being used by the Triple Goddess in an attempt to destroy Camelot and how she had refused to carry out her orders. She even told her about having all of Merlin's memories.

"Merlin's memories of home are what instinctively led me here. I knew that I would be safe here. I swear to you though that I didn't come here to hurt either of you. I didn't even know who you were at first. My mind is still so confused sometimes. I don't know what they did to me, but they somehow erased who I was before completely from my mind," Lenore said after she finished explaining what few memories that she had to Hunith.

Hunith looked disturbed for a moment at the fact that she had let someone who had just attacked her son into her home. Then she looked at the terror on Lenore's face and knew that the girl was not dangerous. She seemed to be more of a victim than anything else.

"She's not evil," Balinor said behind Hunith surprising her. He had overheard the entire conversation.

"I know," Hunith agreed.

"Thank you," Lenore said to both of them for believing in her.

"We should tell Merlin that you're here though," Hunith said.

"No! He'll come after me again. He won't believe that I'm no longer under their control," Lenore said.

"He'll have to come here and make sure of that. Do you want to take the chance that they might take you over again?" Hunith said.

Lenore shuddered at the thought of that and finally said, "Tell him then. I don't want to ever be their pawn again."

Balinor instructed Aithusa to go tell Merlin about Lenore being there. The young dragon still couldn't speak any human languages just yet, but Merlin would still be able to understand her through the bond that a Dragonlord had with all dragons.

Lenore was not surprised when Merlin somehow appeared within the hour. She knew that news would bring him running with concern.

Merlin came running into the house panting and out of breath as he said, "I don't know what you have planned, Lenore, but I won't let you hurt my parents."

"I don't want to hurt them. I swear," Lenore said as she immediately became upset.

"She's the one who told us who she was. She didn't have to do that, and she wouldn't have if she was just out to kill us," Hunith pointed out.

"Unless she wanted to lure me here into a trap," Merlin said suspiciously.

"How did you get here so quickly anyway?" Hunith asked.

"Kilgarrah. He's much faster than traveling by horseback. He usually doesn't want to let me ride with him though. Thankfully, this time I was able to convince him. He said that I was supposed to come here and meet Lenore again, but he didn't say why. He's always so dark and mysterious for some reason. I hate that," Merlin admitted.

"He's always been that way. He thinks it gives him an edge over everyone else. He likes being the cleverest one around," Balinor said with a grin.

Then they realized that Merlin wasn't alone as Cara, Sophia, and Morgana came into the house right after him. Aithusa was sitting happily on Morgana's shoulder as she walked in. She seemed to be perfectly content there, and Morgana seemed to enjoy her company as she constantly talked to her in a low voice that the others couldn't understand with a warm smile on her face.

Hunith knew that she shouldn't be too surprised that Merlin had brought the others with him. Merlin never seemed to go anywhere anymore without at least Cara and Sophia with him. They had become an inseparable trio. She was surprised at how quickly the three of them had bonded after having known each other for only a few months.

Lenore started to shake all over now that she was being watched by all of these new visitors, and Hunith held her hand in silent support. Merlin realized that his mother had become protective of Lenore already and became even more alarmed. What if Lenore had done something to her to make her feel that way in order to protect herself?

"What have you done to my parents?" Merlin accused Lenore.

"Nothing," Lenore protested.

"I sent for you to help her, Merlin. Not to yell at her and accuse her of things that she hasn't done," Hunith said.

"Let me see if I can find out if the Triple Goddess still has any influence on her or not before you continue to attack her. How about that?" Cara said to Merlin

"Fine. Go ahead. Just be careful," Merlin said.

"You act as if she's some kind of monster, Merlin. Calm down," Cara said.

"She doesn't have your memories though, does she? For all I know, she was created specifically to kill me. She must have been or why else would she not have any memories from before a few days ago?" Merlin said nervously.

"Maybe I was. Even if that's true, that's not what I want," Lenore said emphatically.

Cara started to cast a spell even as she smiled at Lenore to reassure her. Lenore was surrounded by an unearthly glow for a moment while Cara seemed to almost be reading something.

"What are you doing?" Merlin asked Cara in confusion.

"I'm reading her aura. It will tell me if she's still under anyone else's control or influence," Cara said.

"Her aura?" Merlin asked.

"It's an energy field that surrounds all living things. I can tell a lot about a person by reading it and seeing what color it is," Cara said.

"You're going to have to tell me more about that. I've never even heard of it," Merlin said.

"Maybe Arthur really should have made her the head of the magic school. She definitely seems to be much smarter than you," Sophia joked.

"Shut up," Merlin said as he tried not to smile.

Morgana looked at Lenore and then looked at Merlin. There was something that seemed to be remarkably similar about both of them. She also studied both of their facial features and noticed how they seemed to share the same characteristics. She whispered something to Aithusa, and the little dragon nodded.

"Is it possible that Merlin and Lenore could be related somehow?" Morgana finally asked out loud.

"What do you mean?" Cara asked.

"I think that they're relatives. She seems to act so much like Merlin and even looks somewhat like him. She also seems to have the same level of power. The only major difference between them is that Lenore is extremely shy and quiet which is not Merlin's personality at all. That could be explained by being traumatized all of her life by the followers of the Triple Goddess though. Maybe she was stolen at birth and raised to become a weapon," Morgana suggested.

"We're definitely not related. I would know," Merlin said.

"Would you? You're obviously been prejudiced against her from the start. Maybe you don't want to see it," Morgana said.

Hunith began to really look at Lenore for the first time now. She could see it too now that she knew to look for it. Lenore was very, very similar to Merlin. It was almost as if . . .

Hunith screamed as a long buried memory flashed through her mind. She remembered now!

"I know who she is now. She's your sister, Merlin," Hunith suddenly said.

"What?!" Merlin and Balinor both said in complete shock.

"You had a twin sister when you were born, but someone took her from me when she was born. Then they erased her from my memory. I completely forgot about you, Lenore. I'm so sorry," Hunith apologized in tears as she embraced her.

"No, that can't be right. I was an only child. Someone's planted a fake memory in your mind," Merlin said as he looked at Lenore with suspicion.

Even Merlin could see though that Lenore looked just as shocked and bothered by Hunith's statement as he was. He could tell that she wasn't acting when she stood there in silence as she looked at Hunith with a mixture of hope, fear, and confusion on her face. Even as Hunith embraced her, Lenore looked like she wasn't sure if she should return her embrace or not.

"Could this be true?" Lenore asked Cara.

Cara's eyes widened as she said, "Yes, it is. Your aura is too similar to Merlin's, Hunith's, and Balinor's to be a coincidence. You're Merlin's sister."

"I don't have a sister though except Sophia," Merlin protested.

"Yes, I'm the only sister that he has," Sophia said in a jealous voice.

"The Triple Goddess altered time in order to create her," Cara suddenly said as her eyes flashed with magic.

"How do you know that?" Merlin asked.

"I'm a seer, Merlin. I can see things that others can't and so can Morgana because she is my daughter. Sometimes the things that I see are things that have already come to pass instead of what is to come however," Cara said.

"What do you see?" Lenore asked her in fascination.

"They used their power over life and death in order to create you, Lenore. Then they stole you away from your mother at birth and erased her memory of you. They've been raising you as their private weapon to use against Merlin ever since. They trained you in the use of your powers and brainwashed you into hating him. They even wiped your own memories and replaced them with Merlin's own just before they sent you out against him so that you would know everything that he knew and be more of a match for him. Not to mention easier to control since you were such a blank slate. They didn't count on one thing though. You have the same big heart that Merlin does. It wouldn't let you attack innocent people no matter what they did to you to try to get you to. You're far too kind and warm hearted by nature to ever become like one of them. You're too much like your mother I think," Cara said with a smile at Hunith.

"Hey, I'm not exactly an ogre myself," Balinor said with a grin.

Lenore looked at Cara in disbelief and shock as she said, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, you're Merlin's twin sister. Not an identical twin but fraternal," Cara said confidently.

Lenore began to smile now as she hugged her mother and father. She could hardly believe it. She finally had a past and a family to belong to.

Merlin however was more reluctant to accept her much to Cara's surprise. He stayed away from the joyous family reunion and glared at Lenore instead.

"What's wrong? I thought that you always wanted a sister. You said so once," Cara reminded him.

"She's not really my sister. She was created by the Triple Goddess to kill me. She wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for their meddling," Merlin said.

"So what? She's still your sister, Merlin, regardless of where she came from or why. She isn't working with them now either. I checked. They have no control over her anymore. She's free of them. She broke their hold on her because she didn't want to be their servant. Just like I did," Cara said.

"How do I know that this isn't all a trick though? They might have planted her here in order for her to gain our trust and then stab us in the back once we've let our guard down," Merlin said.

"That's not true, Merlin. She's not under their control anymore," Cara reassured him.

"Yes, but she still could be in the future. Maybe that's their plan," Merlin said.

"Any of us could fall under their control in the future, Merlin. Does that mean that you shouldn't get to know her?" Cara said.

"He doesn't need another sister. He's got me," Sophia said.

"She won't replace you, Sophia," Cara said.

"How do you know?" Sophia asked in a small insecure voice.

Merlin hugged Sophia tightly and whispered, "No one could ever replace you, Soph. You'll always be my little sister."

"I'm the big sister," Sophia said with a smile as she returned his hug.

"Merlin, say hello to your sister," Hunith said in a curt voice.

"It's okay. I know how he must feel. I did try to kill him," Lenore said.

"You weren't yourself, Lenore," Hunith said.

"How do I know? I don't even know who that is. I may never know. I feel like an empty shell now. Whoever I might have been before is long gone," Lenore said sadly.

Merlin saw the look of despair on Lenore's face and his heart immediately went out to her despite the distrust that her origins still gave him. To his surprise, he suddenly found himself hugging her in comfort.

"I won't ever betray you again, Merlin. I promise you that," Lenore said firmly.

"You never betrayed me before. Let's just start over fresh, Lenore. It's so nice to finally meet you," Merlin said as he decided to let his reservations about her go at last.

"Thank you," Lenore said with a content smile on her face.

"So where are you going to stay at now?" Merlin asked Lenore.

"I'm not sure. I don't think that I should stay here though. I might bring trouble to the village if the Triple Goddess ever decides to come after me. Maybe I should just go and live by myself somewhere," Lenore said.

"No, you're not. You're going to stay with me. I'm sure that Arthur will find a place for you somewhere. Once I convince him that you're not out to kill him that is. That might take a while, but I think I can get that through that hard head of his," Merlin offered.

"You're sure about this?" Lenore asked.

"I'm sure. I have to watch over all of my sisters. It's a part of my job as a brother," Merlin said firmly.

"I'm the one who watches over you," Sophia said indignantly.

"We both watch over him together actually," Cara added.

"For that, I'm eternally grateful," Hunith said.

"Keeping Merlin out of trouble is a full-time job in itself. No wonder it takes two of them," Morgana joked.

Merlin glared at all of them as he swiftly changed the subject, "Speaking of jobs, how would you like to be an instructor at the magic school that I'm starting up. You're a former High Priestess. I know that you can teach the students all kinds of things. Plus you know everything that I do. That automatically makes you a genius."

"Someone thinks highly of themselves," Sophia said as she rolled her eyes.

"I'll take it. Maybe I can use that job to make up for my past," Lenore said.

"Do you have to go so quickly? I've barely gotten to know you," Hunith said sadly.

"I suppose I could stay for a little while if it won't be too much trouble. I don't want to impose," Lenore said hesitantly.

"You would never be imposing on us, Lenore," Balinor said firmly.

"I'll stay then. Just for a little while," Lenore said happily.

"It'll probably take a few days to get through to Arthur anyway. He's stubborn. Once he gets an idea in his head, it takes forever to get it back out again," Merlin complained.

"You and he should be brothers then because you're exactly the same way sometimes," Cara observed.

"What are you talking about? I'm nothing like him," Merlin said.

"It took you forever to accept your sister," Cara pointed out.

"Oh. Well, I was just being cautious. That's all that was. That doesn't make me pig headed and stubborn," Merlin said.

"If you say so," Cara said with a loving smile as she kissed Merlin.

Lenore smiled at how the two of them acted together. She already liked Cara and owed her a great deal. If not for her, she wondered if Merlin would have ever accepted her.

"Balinor, I wonder if I could ask you something," Morgana said.

"Go ahead," Balinor said.

"I would like to take Aithusa back home with me to Camelot. She and I seem to have developed an extraordinary bond with each other, and I would like to have her stay with me. I promise that I will take good care of her, and I won't let anything happen to her. She seems to want to go with me too at least as far as I can tell," Morgana said.

"You can speak to her? Can you actually understand her?" Balinor asked in surprise.

"Not the way that you can, no. I can somehow interpret her moods though, and I seem to always know what she's thinking. I know that she can understand me as well. I can't explain it, but I know that it's there," Morgana said.

"Yes, I know it is too. I can see how quickly that she's taken to you with my own eyes. It's very rare that a non-Dragonlord can bond with a dragon in the way that you have. It's probably your mother's heritage that's given you such a gift. You can take her with you, Morgana. Just make sure to bring her back by here sometimes. I get lonely," Balinor said with a grin.

"I will. Thank you!" Morgana said happily as she hugged him.

"I guess we'll be going then. I've got to go check out a possible new site for the school that Sophia told me about. I'll be back to pick up Lenore in a week. Is that alright?" Merlin asked.

"That's fine," Lenore agreed.

In a shimmering pool of water miles away, Blodeuwedd watched through a scrying spell as Merlin and the others left Lenore behind. She turned to the Green Knight in disgust as she said, "The sister failed. I knew that she would because she's too much like him, but the Triple Goddess insisted. Now it's up to me I suppose to come up with yet another plan to destroy Emrys. Why am I not surprised?"

"Why not try to take over Lenore again?" the Green Knight asked.

"What's the point? She wouldn't kill her brother before so why would that change now? She's still useful for something though. The spell that created her life still requires the death of someone else in order to preserve the balance. I would love to make that someone else Merlin. In fact, I'm going to ensure it. I'm sending the Questing Beast after him. Let's see him survive its bite," Blodeuwedd said.

"Why not have another plan going at the same time as well? Ask the Sidhe to send one of their own to kill Merlin at the same time as you send out the Questing Beast. Surely one of them will kill him, and then the balance will be restored," the Green Knight suggested.

"I like the way that you think. I'll do it. We'll strike him from two fronts at once and watch him fall. Even if he survives one attack, surely he will fall to the other. Then Camelot will be without its greatest defender, and we'll be one step closer to watching it crumble," Blodeuwedd said with an evil laugh.

**Next: Merlin goes to inspect the odd cave that Sophia suggested to him be used as the headquarters for the magic school. Along the way there, he's attacked by the Questing Beast. Even if he survives that assault though, he'll still have one of the most powerful of the Sidhe waiting in the wings to destroy him. Can even Merlin survive both attacks? Sophia comes up with a plan in mind to help him do exactly that, but neither Merlin nor Cara may like the results. Also a familiar figure from another show will make a brief appearance with an agenda all their own.**


	15. Merlin Gets the Shock of His Life

CHAPTER 15

I do not own Merlin or Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

MERLIN GETS THE SHOCK OF HIS LIFE

Merlin and Cara followed Sophia's lead as she led them in an ever increasingly bizarre series of twists and turns in the forests behind Camelot. Neither of them could have found their way back home if their lives had depended on it now. Merlin hoped that at least Sophia knew how to get back or they were all going to be lost for a very long time.

Finally Sophia smiled in triumph as she pointed to what looked like a very ancient and weathered old cave whose entrance had long ago been covered over by huge boulders that no one could possibly move out of the way. "That's it. It'll be perfect, won't it?" Sophia asked proudly.

"Well, you certainly picked a place that is absolutely impossible to find that's for sure. That should confuse our enemies. I mean if I can't even find it, then I'm sure that they can't," Merlin said.

"It's not that hard to find. I can find it easily," Sophia said with a frown.

"How? I got lost a long time ago," Merlin said.

"That's because you have absolutely no sense of direction at all. You know how to get here now, right?" Sophia asked Cara.

Cara looked at her apologetically as she admitted, "No, I'm afraid not, sweetie. I don't have a clue where we are. I completely lost my sense of direction about fifteen minutes ago."

"You did better than me then. I got lost a lot quicker than that," Merlin said.

"You two are impossible! This place is easy to find. I could locate it in the dark," Sophia said in frustration.

"I think that's because you're a Sidhe, Soph. You probably have a better sense of direction than any human being no matter how much magic that they have," Merlin suggested.

Sophia seemed to think over his words and then said, "Merlin, hold my staff for a minute."

"Why?" Merlin asked.

"Just hold it," Sophia said.

Then she glowed with power for a moment, and it began to transfer to the staff even as Merlin held it. Merlin looked at her in shock as he could feel her transferring all of her power to the staff.

"What are you doing?" Merlin asked in concern.

"I just want to know if you're right or not so I'm turning myself into a pure human being," Sophia said.

"What?" Merlin asked with concern.

"Don't worry. I can change back as long as you give me my staff back. Without it though, I'd be a human being forever," Sophia said.

Merlin looked thoughtful as he said, "You've trusted me with your immortality and all of your power. Thank you."

"You're my brother. If I can't trust my brother and sister, then who can I trust?" Sophia said.

Cara smiled as she realized the Sophia was talking about her. She felt exactly the same way about her too. Sophia was the sister that she had never had.

Sophia stopped glowing, and both sorcerers could feel now that she was completely human. Sophia began to look panicked as she said, "I don't feel any connection to magic whatsoever. I don't like it. I just feel so vulnerable without my magic."

"It's okay, honey. We won't let anything hurt you if that's what you're worried about," Cara reassured her.

"I know, Cara. It's not that. It's just I feel so weak. How do normal humans cope like this? Even when I was banished, I still had some power and a connection to the Sidhe. Now I have nothing," Sophia said in an upset voice.

"Here, take your staff back, Soph," Merlin said as he held it out to her.

"No, not yet. I'm scared but I also want to see how it feels. Just for a few more moments anyway," Sophia said.

"Why?" Merlin asked.

"If I'm going to be living with humans for the rest of eternity, I should learn more about them. Not just the ones who have magic either. I should know how an ordinary person feels too. It will help me to understand them better and why they fear us so. I think that I know now. It's because we can hurt them so easily. I never would but they don't know that. I'll have to remember to be more understanding of that in the future," Sophia said.

"How about taking the staff back now?" Merlin asked nervously.

"You're worried that something is going to hurt me while I'm like this, aren't you? That's sweet!" Sophia said with a warm smile.

Just before Sophia could take the staff though, a huge Questing Beast appeared out of nowhere and rammed right into Merlin at incredible speed. Merlin was sent flying into the air and hit the giant boulders with a very loud, sickening cracking sound.

Something inside of Merlin had been instantly broken on impact.

"Merlin!" Both Cara and Sophia screamed in terror as they worried that Merlin might have just been killed before their eyes.

The monster turned to look at the two women now and growled at them. "Sophia, get your staff! I'll hold this thing off!" Cara ordered.

"I should never have made myself this vulnerable," Sophia lamented as she saw her staff lying on the ground several feet away where it had gone flying out of Merlin's hand. She hoped that she could make it to it before the creature went after her. She knew that even one swipe of its claws would kill her instantly in her human form if it caught up to her.

"I'll protect you. Go!" Cara shouted as she began to blast the monster with a huge burst of magical energy from her hands.

Sophia started to run for her staff as Cara kept the monster's attention focused on her by incessantly bombarding it with one mystical assault after another. She called down lighting on top of the monster, ripped several large trees out of the ground and sent them flying into it telekinetically, and threw fire balls at it from her hands among other equally powerful attacks as she kept mercilessly pummeling it in order to buy Sophia the time that she needed to reach her staff.

Sophia reached her staff and quickly became a Sidhe again the instant that she touched it. She began to join the assault on the monster with a huge mystical blast from her staff in the very next minute.

Now with both a High Priestess and a Sidhe allied against it the monster began to back away from them in fear. It knew that it was in great danger that longer that it stayed here. It still felt compelled by the Triple Goddess to carry out its mission though.

It still felt an irresistible urge to kill Merlin.

The monster overrode its natural instinct to save itself as it obeyed its instructions from the Triple Goddess and ran straight toward the still unconscious Merlin without even bothering to protect itself from Cara and Sophia's attacks. It soon received multiple mortal wounds within moments, but it still kept moving forward despite this. It was determined to carry out its last order no matter what pain it was in or how weak it became.

The Questing Beast finally made it to Merlin and then bit him on the back. Merlin cried out in pain even in his unconscious state which let Cara and Sophia know for sure that he was at least still alive for the moment. As soon as the monster bit Merlin, it instantly fell over dead beside him.

"No! It's my fault! If I hadn't been human, I could have stopped it in time," Sophia said in tears as the two women raced to Merlin's side.

Cara's eyes glowed with magic as she healed all of Merlin's wounds with a single gesture. All but one that is. Cara couldn't save Merlin from the bite of a Questing Beast. Not without sacrificing the life of another, and she had sworn to herself never to do that kind of magic ever again.

Could she keep that vow even if it meant the end of Merlin though? She wasn't so sure. She was already thinking of sacrificing herself so that he might live. She would never sacrifice anyone else that much was for certain.

"Cara, there's a way that I can save him from even the bite of a Questing Beast, but you're not going to like it," Sophia said.

"I'm willing to try anything. Tell me what it is," Cara said.

Sophia did so and Cara began to cry as soon as she had finished. "It won't mean anything, Cara. I promise. I'll undo it as soon as I can. I promise you that it won't be forever," Sophia said as she embraced Cara in an attempt to comfort her.

"Do it," Cara said in an emotional voice.

"I'm so, so sorry. If I could think of anything else, I would do it. I would rather do almost anything else. I don't want to hurt you, and I know that this will," Sophia said.

"Do it, Sophia. Do it quickly before I change my mind," Cara said as she began to cry.

"I'm so sorry," Sophia said again in a compassionate voice.

Sophia woke Merlin up by lightly shaking him. Even as he woke up though, Merlin was already ready to quickly fall back asleep again. The bite of the Questing Beast was well on its way to killing him even just minutes after his having received it.

"Merlin, can you hear me?" Sophia asked.

"Yes. Am I dying?" Merlin asked in concern.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. There is a way that I can save you though. You have to become a member of my family then I can share my power and immortality with you. That's the only thing that will heal you other than having someone else sacrifice themselves for you," Sophia said.

"No, I don't want that. Let's do the other thing. What do I do? I mean I'm already your brother anyway. I might as well make it official," Merlin said with a very weak smile.

"Just hold my hand and repeat everything that I tell you to say after me exactly as I say it. It'll be in my own language so you won't be able to understand it I'm afraid," Sophia said.

"It's okay. I trust you," Merlin said.

Sophia looked at Cara guiltily for a moment, and then she took Merlin's hand in hers and wrapped a long cord that she quickly took from around her waist around both of their hands. She began to say words in a language that Merlin could barely pronounce, but he somehow kept up with her and repeated her words exactly. Each time Merlin would say his part, then she would say something else that was equally unintelligible to him but that he understood was similar to what he had just said. Finally Sophia sighed and began to shake as she said, "Say yes, Merlin."

"Yes," Merlin said without hesitation.

Sophia couldn't even look at Cara as she said, "Now there's one last step, and it will be finished. Tell me your true name."

"What do you mean? It's Merlin," Merlin said in confusion.

"No, the other one. The one that the druids called you," Sophia clarified.

"Emrys," Merlin said.

Then Sophia said a word that Merlin couldn't even pronounce much less spell, but it sounded like musical notes somehow. It was both lyrical and beautiful at the same time.

"What was that?" Merlin asked.

"That was my true name. You didn't think that it was really Sophia, did you?" Sophia said with a small, brief smile.

"Is that it?" Merlin asked.

"Yes, it should be any minute now," Sophia said.

"What should?" Merlin asked just as he felt a surge of power go through him.

He screamed in sudden pain and surprise, and then he felt his wound heal as his body felt strangely rejuvenated. He was back to normal again, and yet he felt oddly different somehow.

"What did you do? You didn't give me your power, did you?" Merlin asked as he suddenly stood up undamaged.

"No, at least not for good anyway. I momentarily shared my power with you just for a moment and completely healed you of the Questing Beast's bite with it. I could only do that if you were a member of my family so that was why we had to do that ceremony. It mystically bound us together and created a connection between us for me to send my magic through," Sophia explained.

She hadn't told him everything though. She didn't know if she dared to or not.

"So now I'm officially your brother. That's great. Isn't that great, Cara?" Merlin asked happily.

Cara though was crying non-stop and looked almost ready to pass out. Merlin knew instantly that Sophia had lied to him.

"What did you do?!" Merlin demanded.

"It's okay, Merlin. Don't be angry at her. I told her that it was okay," Cara said in a voice filled with pain.

"What's okay? What did I agree to?" Merlin asked in anger.

"It doesn't mean anything to me. I want you to understand that. It won't last forever. Then I'll release you from it. I promise. I would never do something like this to you otherwise," Sophia said.

"What. Did. You. Do?!" Merlin said in an extremely angry voice.

"That's what I'd like to know," a voice said behind them.

A Sidhe hovered in the air above them and stared at them in intense anger. He seemed almost as angry as Merlin was if that was possible.

"I just tried to fire my staff at him and I couldn't. The staff refused to fire. That only happens on two occasions, Sophia, so which is it? What did the two of you do together?" the Sidhe said in disgust.

"I'm not pregnant with his child if that's what you're wondering," Sophia said.

"The other option is almost as bad. I can't believe that you would do such a thing with one of them no matter how far you've fallen. You disgust me!" the Sidhe said in distaste.

"You were sent to kill him by the Elders, weren't you? What's the matter? Was the Questing Beast not enough for them so they sent you too? Talk about overkill!" Sophia said.

"You've taken care of both of those threats at once though in one stroke, haven't you? At what cost though, Sophia? What cost?" the Sidhe said.

"Will someone please tell me what I just did?" Merlin said in frustration.

"You didn't even tell him?!" the Sidhe asked.

"No, I didn't. Merlin, I'm sorry. I didn't make you my brother. I just . . . I just got engaged to you. We're engaged to be married," Sophia said.

"What?!" Merlin said in shock.

"It was the only way that I could share my immortality with you and heal the bite of the Questing Beast. It's also saved you from being killed by my uncle, who is one of the most powerful of the Sidhe. He can't touch you because you're one of us through marriage now. Or you almost are anyway. As long as we're engaged, the Sidhe are forbidden by law to kill you because you're officially counted as one of us," Sophia said.

"Undo it, now!" Merlin ordered.

"You really didn't tell him anything, did you?" Sophia's uncle said as he shook his head.

"I had to act fast. He was dying. I couldn't let him die. He's my friend," Sophia said.

"A human is your friend?" Sophia's uncle said in disbelief.

"I can't undo it. Not yet. By Sidhe law, we must remain engaged for a minimum of six months. Neither of us can have a romantic relationship with anyone else during that time or we'll both be attacked and killed by the other Sidhe who will always be watching us even if we can't see them. They take marriage ceremonies seriously over in Avalon. Then at the end of that time, we can choose to get married or break off the engagement. Until then, there is no way to break it," Sophia explained in an upset voice.

She knew that Merlin would be really furious now.

Merlin said nothing though. He just stared at her with a dumbfounded look on his face. She could tell that he was in a state of shock now and was completely numb.

"Congratulations, Sophia. You've just ruined your life. You know that none of our kind will ever marry you after you pledged yourself to a human even if the relationship wasn't consummated. You've just lost any chance whatsoever that you ever had to come home. Now you can't even count on being allowed back in Avalon through marriage as slim a hope as that was to an exile. All to save a human. I hope you're happy," Sophia's uncle said.

"As long as Merlin's safe, I am. I've already given up on ever seeing home again," Sophia said with no trace of regret at all in her voice.

Sophia's uncle disappeared without saying another word. Sophia sighed in relief. She knew that Merlin was safe from the Sidhe now. At least from their direct attack anyway.

What had she done to her two friends though? Merlin had gone catatonic, and Cara was overwhelmed with grief. Neither of them would even look at her.

She had saved her brother's life, but was it at the cost of both of her most treasured friendships?

Nearby a pair of malicious eyes watched the three of them with intense interest. He wondered if this would end his plan before it had even begun. He had hoped to disguise his TARDIS as a cave so that he could use it as a trap for the sorcerers of this world. He had even put out subliminal messages that he knew that at least some of them would pick up on and follow here. He wanted the sorcerers of Camelot to make his TARDIS into their magic school so that he could carry most of them off at once inside of it and strand them inside of the Space-Time Vortex.

He knew that it was a long game, but he was more than determined to play it in order to achieve his goal. That is if any hope of that hadn't already died here today.

By removing all of the opposing side's magic at once, he would hand Albion completely over to the mercy of the Triple Goddess and change history forever in this universe. He really wanted to see what would happen after he did that. How would this world change with a future England ruled over by the Old Religion? He just knew that that would cause major changes in its history, and he couldn't wait to see what they were.

That was what he did after all. He altered history for his own amusement just to see what would happen as a result. That was why he was called the Meddling Monk.

**Next: The full ramifications of Sophia and Merlin's engagement are finally felt in the next chapter. Will Sophia's friendships with Merlin and Cara be able to last? Will Merlin and Cara's relationship ever be the same? How will this affect the magic school not to mention the Monk and his plans? Oh, and on top of that someone very close to Merlin will die to preserve the balance that was altered when Lenore was born. Who will it be?**


	16. A Devastating Loss

CHAPTER 16

I do not own Merlin or Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!**

A DEVASTATING LOSS

The Monk decided that he wasn't going to let all of his careful planning go to waste. He was going to do something to bring these three back together again so that they could continue with their plans for the magic school. It was the best way to make sure that he could trap all of the sorcerers in the area at once in his TARDIS in order to effectively remove them.

He already had a cunning plan in mind to fix things between them too. What better way to bring people back together again than by giving them a common threat to unite against?

The Monk smiled to himself as he set his plan into motion. He had been looking for an excuse to bring Thelonious II into a fight for some time now anyway. Now he could see exactly how well he handled himself.

Merlin and Cara were still devastated, and Sophia didn't know what to say to either of them. The three of them had been standing there together in silence for so long that they had actually lost track of time.

They probably would have stayed like that for the rest of the day if they hadn't suddenly found themselves under attack.

"HUMANS DETECTED IN THE AREA. ALL HUMANS MUST BE FOUND AND EXTERMINATED. SEEK, LOCATE, EXTERMINATE!" A very familiar voice to Merlin said in the distance.

Merlin was suddenly shocked back to reality as he looked up in alarm to see the owner of the voice rapidly approaching and beginning to attack them with strange beams of energy. All of Merlin's anger and sorrow was immediately forgotten as soon as he realized that Cara and Sophia were in danger. Nothing else mattered to him in that moment but keeping them alive.

All of Cara's despair faded away for the moment also as soon as she realized that they were being attacked. She was suddenly her normal self again and was already busy coming up with a plan to combat it whatever it was.

"What is this thing?" Sophia asked.

"It's from Jenny's universe. She called it a Dalek. They're devoted to destroying everyone and everything who isn't one of them," Merlin explained.

"Did she happen to mention how you destroy it?" Cara asked.

"Aim for the eyestalk," Merlin said.

"Sounds good to me," Cara said as she threw a massive fireball at the Dalek's eyestalk.

"UNDER ATTACK BY ENERGY OF AN UNKNOWN NATURE. ANALYZING ATTACK AND PREPARING EFFECTIVE COUNTERDEFENSIVE MEASURES," the Dalek said as a force field instantly surrounded him.

Cara watched in a mixture of fear and grudging respect as her fireball was easily absorbed by the Dalek's force field. She decided to try something much more devastating next as she easily changed the weather in the area from clear and sunny to a severe thunderstorm with a single gesture, and the skies erupted with savage bursts of lightning everywhere in an instant as massive amounts of rain and hail began to hit the ground.

"THE HUMAN FEMALE DEMONSTRATES AN UNEXPLAINED CONTROL OVER THE WEATHER. SHE MUST BE ANALYZED FURTHER AND HER SECRETS ADDED TO THAT OF THE DALEKS. MISSION OBJECT IVE FOR HER CHANGED FROM ONE OF EXTERMINATION TO CAPTURE AND STUDY INSTEAD," the Dalek said.

"Oh, that's wonderful. Now it wants to study me instead of kill me. I don't know which is worse. I think I'll pick Option C. That's the one where I fry you with a massive lightning strike instead," Cara said as her eyes glowed with magic.

Multiple bolts of lightning hit the Dalek at once over and over again, and the whole area was blanketed with the noise of so much thunder that Merlin and Sophia both had to cover their ears to avoid being deafened by it.

"Study that!" Cara screamed at the Dalek.

Sophia could see the anger and hate on her face as she mercilessly attacked the Dalek and realized that she had caused it by her actions here today. Cara had been holding all of that pent up emotion inside of her the entire time that she has been silent and was now unleashing it on the Dalek. Sophia couldn't help but wonder if Cara were really seeing her there instead of the Dalek, and the pain of that thought struck her to the very core of her soul and made her feel as if she was dying inside.

"YOUR ATTACK IS IMPRESSIVE BUT NOT UP TO DALEK STANDARDS. INITIATING COUNTERRESPONSE," the Dalek said.

The Dalek began to fire on Cara with his gunstick so quickly and rapidly that she barely managed to get out of the way in time. Merlin knew that the Dalek would kill her at any minute unless he stopped it.

Merlin used his magic to quickly throw the Dalek into the side of the cave as hard as he could. The Dalek screamed in surprise and then bounced off of the cave and made the ground shake as he hit it on his back.

"ELEVATE," the Dalek said as he lifted himself back up off of the ground.

Even as he finished righting himself though, he was quickly met by an attack from Sophia who fired a massive blast of energy at him through her staff. She screamed in pain and frustration as she poured every ounce of magic that she could at the Dalek making it scream in agony.

"I AM BEING ATTACKED BY DEADLY ENERGY BLASTS OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN. SHIELDS ARE INEFFECTIVE AGAINST IT. I CANNOT DETERMINE THE SOURCE OF THE ATTACK. THE STAFF THAT THE FEMALE HOLDS IS NOT CAPABLE OF GENERATING SUCH FORCES. THIS TECHNOLOGY IS UNKNOWN TO DALEK SCIENCE. DO NOT UNDERSTAND ITS FUNCTION. FEMALE IS OF UNKNOWN SPECIES. I AM REQUESTING ASSISTANCE. PLEASE PROVIDE MORE INFORMATION SO THAT I CAN COMPLETE THE MISSION," the Dalek said in a panicked voice.

"Who is it talking to?" Cara asked.

"Who cares? I'm going to make it into toast long before whoever it is can come to help it," Sophia said in a voice filled with anger.

The Dalek was starting to smoke from Sophia's attack as it said, "INITIATING EMERGENCY TEMPORAL SHIFT FOR SELF PRESERVATION."

The Dalek immediately disappeared and then reappeared behind a startled Sophia the next second. It wrapped the tip of its manipulator arm around the back of Sophia's head and started squeezing it immediately making her scream out in agony.

"I AM EXTRACTING THE INFORMATION OF HOW THE FEMALE'S ATTACK WORKS FROM HER MIND," the Dalek said.

"Leave her alone!" Merlin shouted.

He cast a spell that instantly made the Dalek's manipulator arm break in two, and then he used his magic to make it fly off of Sophia's head and into the nearby woods. This sudden assault made the Dalek scream out in surprise, and it instinctively backed away from Merlin in terror.

Now that she had been released, Sophia fell to the ground in an extremely weakened state and looked pale and emaciated. She looked like she was near death due to the Dalek's information extraction process through its arm.

"Soph!" Merlin cried out in fear.

"THE THREAT CAUSED BY THE FEMALE OF UNKNOWN SPECIES HAS BEEN NEUTRALIZED, BUT I AM NOW UNDER ATTACK BY THE MALE. CANNOT DUPLICATE THE FEMALE'S ATTACK OR DEFEND AGAINST THE MALE'S JUST YET. THE INFORMATION TAKEN FROM HER MIND MUST BE STUDIED FURTHER BEFORE IT CAN BE MASTERED AND DUPLICATED FOR DALEK USE," the Dalek said to its unseen master, the Monk.

"That's all we need. Daleks with magic! We have to destroy it now before it can find a way to use whatever it took from Sophia's mind," Merlin said to Cara.

"Maybe we can combine our powers together in a single attack. We need to concentrate on destroying its metallic shell. Think about it falling to pieces from decay," Cara said.

"An aging spell," Merlin said and Cara nodded.

Both of them clasped their hands together and chanted a spell to speed up time that caused the Dalek's casing to start rapidly aging. It started to rust and crack as it became more and more weathered.

"ALERT! ALERT! OUTER CASING LOSING STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY. I AM IN IMMINENT DANGER. REQUESTING IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE," the Dalek said as it began to panic once again.

The Dalek attempted to fire on Merlin and Cara with its gunstick, but he quickly found to his horror that the gunstick wouldn't function! It had become so old that it no longer functioned. As the Dalek continued to try to use it, it sparked and began to catch on fire. The fire spread throughout the casing very quickly and that combined with the extreme aging spell caused it to finally completely disintegrate.

The Dalek itself fell to the floor now completely defenseless and screamed in terror as it said, "I AM IN DANGER. REQUESTING IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE."

"You kept talking to someone else and giving them reports on what you were doing the entire time. Who sent you to attack us? Tell us now," Merlin commanded.

"REQUESTING ASSISTANCE," the Dalek said again.

"No one's going to help you. Apparently your master doesn't care what happens to you so why protect them? Tell us who it is," Cara said.

"I AM LOYAL. I DO NOT QUESTION THE WISHES AND COMMANDS OF MY SUPERIOR," the Dalek said stubbornly.

Merlin and Cara ignored the helpless Dalek for now as Merlin put it to sleep with a quickly muttered spell. Then they rushed over to Sophia's side as they quickly checked to see if she was still alive.

"She's still breathing, but she's really weak. I don't know if she's going to be alright or not. We have to get her back to Gaius as soon as we can," Merlin said.

"What do we do with the Dalek? It's too dangerous to be kept alive, but I don't kill anymore unless I have to. I'm afraid if I do that I might become evil again," Cara said in a worried voice.

"You're not evil, and you won't ever be again if I can help it," Merlin said as he stroked the side of her face in a loving manner.

Cara smiled at him and then became alarmed as she said, "No, don't. The Sidhe might attack."

"So what? They were trying to kill us anyway so who cares?" Merlin said.

"Don't you see that Sophia gave you a great gift? She made sure that the Triple Goddess couldn't use the Sidhe to attack you for six months. That's more than enough time to build the magic school and to start getting all of the sorcerers in the area trained in the use of their magic. Maybe by the time the engagement is over with, we can have an army of them ready to defend Camelot with. If the price for that time is that we have to hold off on our relationship for a while then that's a small price to pay, isn't it? I love you and I know that I always will. Not even waiting six months for you is going to change that," Cara said.

"Are you sure?" Merlin asked.

"Yes. I'm sure, Merlin. We can do this. Our love will survive this, and then when the six months are over with we'll be back together again and stronger than ever," Cara said.

"I'm sorry," Merlin said.

"It's okay. It's going to be okay," Cara said as she smiled at him.

"Well, at least you're talking to each other again so that's some progress. Well about me? How do you feel about me?" Sophia asked in a weak voice from where she lay on the ground.

Merlin and Cara both helped her up and brought her to her feet. Then they both embraced her and kissed her cheek as Merlin said, "Does that answer your question, big sister?"

Sophia gave them a weak smile as she said, "Thank you, little brother. I'm so sorry for what I had to do to both of you. I love you both so much. You two mean more to me than anyone, and I'd never hurt you this way normally. I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay, Soph. We're not angry at you. Don't worry about that. You just worry about getting better," Merlin said gently.

"That's right, sweetie. We want you to concentrate on getting your strength back. We don't ever want to lose you," Cara said.

Sophia smiled at both of them as she said, "I was afraid that you both hated me."

"No, we could never hate you. You're a part of our family now," Merlin said.

Then Merlin and Cara both looked at each other in joyful surprise as they realized for the first time that that's what they were: a family. In their hearts, Merlin and Cara were already husband and wife, and no amount of waiting was going to tear them apart now.

Merlin decided to take the Dalek with him as the three of them headed back on horseback to Camelot. He was going to keep him and interrogate him some more later. Maybe he could use magic to make the Dalek break and tell him what was going on. Someone had sent that Dalek to kill them, and he wanted to know who and why.

Nearby the Monk watched them ride off with a satisfied smile on his face. He knew for sure that they would return and start the magic school now. His plan would still work even if he did have to wait a while to complete it.

The only thing that had gone wrong was the survival of Thelonius II. He was almost certain that the Dalek would never talk but not one hundred percent sure of it. He groaned as he realized that he was going to have to sneak into Camelot and kill the Dalek now before he could give his identity away. He couldn't have Merlin find out about him or he would tell Jenny. The last thing that he needed was to have the daughter of the Bad Wolf breathing down his neck or worse yet Sekhmet.

He shuddered at the thought of having to face Lily again as he quickly rode off towards Camelot. He had to stop that Dalek from talking somehow.

Merlin, Cara, and Sophia rode fast until they reached Camelot, and then they brought Sophia into Gaius' quarters only to find them empty. They laid her down on Merlin's bed as Merlin went to find Gaius. He had to know if Sophia was going to be alright or not.

Finally after several minutes of unsuccessful searching for Gaius, Merlin found Arthur and asked him where he was. Merlin was devastated by his answer.

"Merlin, I'm so sorry. It happened quickly so he didn't suffer," Arthur said in an emotional voice.

"What are you saying?" Merlin asked even though he already knew.

"Gaius is dead. He died from a heart attack a few hours ago," Arthur said.

Merlin immediately collapsed emotionally and broke down sobbing. Gaius was the one who had died in exchange for Lenore's being born. The balance had now been restored but at what cost?

The man who Merlin had loved like a second father was dead. Merlin was now overcome with both grief and guilt at the same time. This was his fault. The Triple Goddess had specifically created Lenore to kill him so that put Gaius' death on his head.

"It wasn't your fault, Merlin. Morgause explained to me that this was because of the spell that created Lenore so I know that's what you think but you're wrong. You didn't do this. The Triple Goddess did. If you want to blame someone, they're the ones to blame. You need to stop beating yourself up over things that you had absolutely no control over," Arthur said.

"If it wasn't for me, there would be no Lenore, and Gaius would still be here," Merlin said.

"It's Camelot that the Triple Goddess wants to destroy because we won't let them force everyone to worship only them and let them run roughshod over Albion. They would have probably created someone like Lenore anyway even if you had never been here. If you want to blame someone then you should blame me because I won't back down to them," Arthur said in a voice that suggested that he certainly blamed himself for what had happened.

"It wasn't your fault, Arthur. You did the right thing," Merlin said.

"So did you so that makes it not your fault either, doesn't it?" Arthur said with a smile.

Merlin smiled back at Arthur for just a moment and then he said, "Thanks. I'm still not sure that I believe you, but I appreciate the sentiment. You know if you keep this sort of thing up I'm going to start thinking that you like me or something."

Arthur shook his head and said, "Don't get the wrong idea. I still think that you're an idiot, Merlin. I just happen to know what it feels like to lose your father. That's all."

Merlin smiled again as he said, "I should have known you'd never admit to anything."

"That's because there's nothing to admit to, Merlin. Don't worry about Sophia. I'll make sure that one of the local physicians comes to look at her. I hope that she's alright," Arthur said changing the subject.

"Thanks. She's going to be staying with me in Gaius' quarters. I'm going to watch over her until I'm sure that she's better," Merlin said.

"I really am sorry, Merlin. I thought of him as a second father myself," Arthur said.

"I know. We all did I think," Merlin said sadly.

He turned around to leave already trying to think of a way to break this to Cara only to discover her standing there silently crying. She must have just heard the news herself. The two of them embraced as Arthur quietly walked away.

As Merlin listened to Cara sob at the loss of her oldest friend, he vowed to himself that he was going to fix this somehow. Someway somehow he was going to bring Gaius back.

He knew just who to ask about it too. He was going to talk to Jenny.

**Next: Merlin asks Jenny to bring Gaius back to life. What will she say? Will Sophia be alright? Also the Monk arrives in Camelot to kill Thelonius II. Who does he wind up getting in a major fight with instead? Hint: It's not Jenny. I'm not that obvious.**


End file.
